Turn and Face the Strange
by tuesdaymidnight
Summary: Jacob Black's life is weird. Not only does he shift into a wolf, now he's fighting with his oldest friend over a guy and dealing with a bunch of vampires no one has been able to spot. M/M slash. AU. The Cullens are human. Rated M.
1. Phase 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Twilight or any of the characters. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** This is my 2011 Twilight Big Bang entry. It consists of seven parts (plus an epilogue), and I will post a new chapter each day this week. Also, for clarification, the Cullens are human in this story.

Thank you to OnTheTurningAway for betaing this even though I pushed her right up against the deadline.

* * *

><p><span>Phase 1<span>

The day the Rez school caught fire changed my life irrevocably.

I guess I was already headed down the path of the completely bizarre, but that fire seemed to be the thing that really set everything in motion. I was already a wolf, how much stranger could my life get?

When Sam had started acting distant, I didn't immediately take notice. We were a small community, so we all knew each other, but Sam was older than me and we didn't really ever interact much. But when Paul, who usually treated me like a little brother, gave me the cold shoulder, I began to get both worried and pissed off, mostly pissed off. Paul was suddenly _always_ around Sam, and he didn't seem happy about it. The whole thing was just strange, and I really started to wonder about Sam Uley.

Jared was the next one to join their little group. I saw the three of them standing at the cliffs one day while I was taking my shitty Volkswagen Rabbit out for a test drive. Sam was talking to both of them, and it looked almost like he was giving them a lecture. Paul was standing with his arms folded across his chest, but Jared was nodding, like he was eating up whatever Sam was feeding him.

I couldn't figure out what he had over the both of them. I had all kinds of weird theories about Sam being some kind of brain-washing cult leader or having some kind of dirt on them that was bad enough to force them to do his bidding, but the seeming opposite reactions of Paul and Jared completely threw me off. Plus, I couldn't imagine that either one was capable of doing anything terrible.

Then one day Embry didn't come to school. He was one of my best friends. He and Quil were the two people who were really there for me after my mom died. We were all still pretty young at the time, but they were the ones who sat around with me in silence. They forced me outside to play and ride bikes and just be a kid when it was obvious I needed it. They didn't try to force me to talk about how I was feeling like my sisters kept trying to do. They just let me be, even if they didn't realize it.

So when Embry quit taking my calls, I _had _to find out what was going on.

When I went over to his house, his mom told me he was really sick and practically slammed the front door in my face. He didn't come back to school for a whole week. All my texts and calls went completely unanswered. I rode past his house on my bike a few times, but the shades were drawn. I figured his mom would just turn me away again, if she even answered the door at all, so I gave up.

I complained about it to my dad over dinner, explaining that no one else at school was sick with this mysterious super illness, and that I knew it had something to do with Sam Uley and the way he brainwashed Paul and Jared.

My dad just stared at me the whole time, giving me "the look." The condescending look that said, "You're still a child and you shouldn't ask questions about things you don't understand."

"Well?" I pushed him. "You don't think there's something strange about all of this?"

"Charlie and I are going fishing this weekend."

"So you're just going to change the subject? Just like that?"

"I shouldn't have to remind you to respect your elders, son," was all he said, harshly I might add.

We finished dinner in silence.

That weekend Quil and I hung out at the beach. He was the only other person who seemed even remotely disturbed by the weird cult of Sam Uley, but together we still couldn't make heads or tails of it.

We were just goofing around, trying to throw rocks at the fish in the tide pools, when Quil straightened abruptly.

"The plot thickens," he said, pointing up at the cliffs.

Standing up there, not looking even remotely sick, was Embry. Of course, he was standing with Sam, Paul and Jared, and it was obvious they were trying to get him to jump. Cliff-diving was something we all did, but most of us had never jumped from the highest cliffs, Embry especially. He was terrified of heights.

"They got him too?" I all but shouted at Quil. I was furious.

"I can't believe they're trying to get him to jump! He won't do it."

"They're probably going to push him off! Those bastards."

I started running toward the cliffs. I didn't think I could stop them or anything, but I was pissed. Who did they think they were? Embry was with me the first time I jumped off the low cliffs. He stood at the edge and shook in fear. I gave him a hard time about it for awhile, until I realized that he was turning green. I thought he was going to barf off the edge, and I could see him holding back tears. I just told him to meet me at the shore and we never talked about it again.

I stopped dead in my tracks just as Embry went over the edge.

"What the fuck?"

I started running toward the shore where he would surface. The other three were cheering loudly as Embry's head came up out of the water. He pumped a fist into the air and then started swimming. He saw me as soon as he climbed out of the water.

"Jake," he said as his voice cracked.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" I asked coldly. We had been best friends for years; I didn't deserve this.

He tensed, almost like he was going to hit me. Instead he just stared at me, eventually relaxing enough to give a small shake of his head.

"I can't tell you, man. I would if I could, I just can't."

"You were just as pissed off at Sam as me. Why the hell are you suddenly in his cult!"

"It's not like that."

"Well then tell me what it's like!" I was shouting at this point. I heard Quil approaching behind me, but he held back.

"I can't!" he shouted back.

"Why the fuck not?"

"It has to do with the tribal legends. That's all I can tell you, I swear. I want to tell you. I just, I really, really can't."

There was so much desperation in his voice that the fight left me. He wasn't going to tell me, and I really wanted to believe that there was a good reason for it.

"Fine. Whatever. Be a dick."

I turned back toward the tide pools, and Quil and I walked back to my house in silence.

When Embry came back to school on Monday, we gave him the silent treatment. He looked kind of hurt by it, and in hindsight it was pretty immature, but I couldn't bring myself to feel bad. _He_ was the one keeping secrets. _He_ was the one who was palling around with Sam, jumping off cliffs like it was nothing.

But then a few weeks later, I started feeling sick during fifth period. By the time I got home from school I was completely out of it. My dad wasn't home, so I dug around the bathroom for our thermometer. I only had it under my tongue for a minute before it beeped. It read 108. I didn't know a lot about diseases, but I knew that 108 was really, really bad. I don't remember much about what happened next, but my dad told me later that he found me trying to get into my car. I was so delirious, I couldn't even get the key in the lock.

Of course, he knew exactly what was going on with me. A doctor would have had no clue, unless there was one out there with a strong belief in the supernatural, so I guess it was better that I couldn't get my sick ass to the hospital.

The next couple of days were blurry. I remember being in a lot of pain. I was having an accelerated growth spurt; it was like going through puberty again, but all at once. My first clear memory after leaving school that day was waking up to see Sam, Paul, Jared and Embry all staring down at me. It took me a little while to grasp Sam's explanation that I was suddenly able to morph into a giant wolf, but after I saw Embry do it right in front of my eyes, it started to sink in.

The first time I phased was indescribable.

I felt powerful, like there was nothing in the world that could stop me. I immediately took off running into the woods. I was always good at navigating the thick trees and underbrush, but this was something else entirely. Instinct took over, and I knew when to jump before I even saw the huge tree that had fallen in my path. My body seemed to know where the ground was soft and muddy from the recent rain, and my feet, well, my paws, would avoid those spots. The sounds and smells of life buzzed among the trees. I knew where there was a den of rabbits and a bald eagle's nest. I could sense a pack of deer somewhere in the area and had an overwhelming urge to stalk them.

I had no idea how long I tracked them before I heard something in my head that wasn't natural.

_Whoa, Jake. Take it easy._

Of course, there was always a catch.

_Huh? Sam?_

Even after they told me about the whole phasing into a wolf thing, I didn't quite understand what they meant when they said that I would hear the rest of the pack's thoughts in my head.

Suddenly, images that weren't my own flooded my mind. Paul was complaining about trying to catch up to me. Jared was thinking about the dinner his mom was cooking for us all that night. Embry was being his usual self-deprecating self.

_Great, I'm still the slowest._

_You're the slowest out of all of us on foot, too. What did you expect?_ I quipped back.

_Okay, okay. You've had your fun. Come back, now._

Sam's voice felt the loudest in my head, and even though I wanted to keep running, I felt compelled to turn around and meet up with the others. They explained to me later that because he was the alpha, I would feel obliged to follow Sam's orders.

_Meet back my place. We'll leave your clothes for you on the back porch._

Yeah, it had been a little weird stripping down in front of them, but my wolf body wasn't going to fit into my favorite Levi's.

Sure enough, when I got to the Uley's house, my clothes were waiting. I phased back and got dressed and then went straight into the kitchen. Sam's girlfriend Leah was the only one there. I always thought she was kind of a bitch, and she did nothing to shatter that image.

"They're all in the living room. Waiting for _you_."

It wasn't any of her business, and I was about to tell her so before Sam burst into the kitchen.

"Good, you're back. Wait in the living room, I just want to say goodbye to Leah."

"Saying goodbye" was code for shoving his tongue down her throat, so I grabbed a few cookies out of the jar on the counter and hoofed it into the living room.

The guys all seemed really happy for me that I had joined the pack, and they were impressed by the way I adjusted to my wolf form. I told them about the pack of deer I sensed, so I asked them about whether or not they ever hunted in their wolf form.

Paul and Jared started telling me about when they tried and failed to hunt down an elk when Sam came back into the room. Suddenly, a heaviness blanketed my thoughts, and we all immediately quieted down. It felt natural to do so, but I wondered if this following-the-alpha's-orders business wasn't going to be a pain in the ass.

"We should probably do this at a Council meeting," Sam started. "But we're not sure how many more of us are going to phase, so it's best you know the basics now."

I swallowed hard. The tension in the room was so thick that it finally started to sink in a little that turning into a giant wolf wasn't just some cool Quileute trick.

Sam briefed me on the history of our tribe. Though I knew some of our tribal history, it all sounded a little ridiculous to me. We were supposedly descendents of the wolf, but it wasn't until a particular enemy made itself present in our land that we started to phase back into our "original" form. He explained about "the cold ones" and how they killed and fed on the blood of our people. The ability to transform was passed down for generations, but it would only make itself manifest when our enemy began to infiltrate our territory. Sam went on to describe these creatures, and I felt more and more like I was hearing a fairy tale, or a bad horror story.

"Vampires," I said, interrupting him and making no attempt to hide my skepticism. "You expect me to believe that there are vampires out there."

"You phase into a wolf, dude," Paul snorted. I was glad his sense of humor was back, but in that moment it wasn't appreciated.

I threw a pillow at him.

"Believe it. We've seen them," Jared said solemnly.

"Wait, what?" Embry cut in.

"Last night." Sam remained calm. "That's the other reason for this meeting. Jared and I were doing patrol last night and we caught the scent of one of the bloodsuckers. We followed its trail for almost 50 miles past Forks. There's a little town along Route 101. That's where we finally caught sight of it."

"Shit." Paul whistled.

"It was male, brown hair, fairly nondescript. He didn't see us, but we're pretty sure he knew that something was following him."

"What are we supposed to do about it?" I asked, still not quite understanding.

"They're the enemy, Jake. We have to destroy them."

"So why didn't you just- just kill it?"

"It's not that easy."

I opened my mouth to interrupt, but then I realized I didn't know how to object to that.

"So far, five of us have phased. That's a lot of us just for one vampire. There's something else going on. There have to be more of them. We can't just attack until we know more."

"That's why we've been running patrols," Embry burst in.

"Their scent is getting closer to us," Jared added.

"Do they know about us?"

"We think so," Sam said. "So far, they haven't actually set foot on our lands, like they instinctively sense the danger, but we think they're curious."

"I still don't understand why we don't just destroy them. If we're their natural enemy then why not just pick them off one by one?"

"We're enemies, yes, but they are _not_ to be taken lightly. According to the legends, they can be strong. Very strong, especially after they feed. And if more of us keep phasing, I'm afraid we may have a war on our hands."

My blood ran cold at the thought.

That's why when the school caught fire about a month later, we all immediately suspected foul play. It would have been almost impossible, though, for one of the blood-suckers to set foot on the Rez without one of us noticing. We had a constant patrol after dark, and we sent out tracking missions into Forks and beyond. Plus, it didn't make sense for them to seek us out. At the time of the fire, as far as we knew, there were only three of them. Paul and I had spotted a red-haired female south of Forks when we were tracking one night, and Embry had seen another male closer to Seattle. But Quil had phased at that point, as had Collin, Brady, Seth and Leah, which was just weird, so we were up to a pack of ten.

Things seemed to calm down for awhile after the fire - vampire-wise anyway. The school was completely destroyed and rebuilding was a slow process. So, Dad insisted on enrolling me at Forks High, and made me cut back on patrolling. We argued about it for awhile, but he insisted that I couldn't be a wolf for a living and that I needed to get a real education. I just wanted to take the high school equivalency test, but it was hopeless. He even conned my sister Rachel into talking to me about how much she loved college.

I was going to finish high school, and that was that.

Of course, it helped when I remembered that Bella Swan also attended Forks High. She was the daughter of Charlie Swan, police chief of Forks and my dad's best friend. Bella just moved to Forks after having lived with her mom in Phoenix, but I remembered playing with her back when we were little kids. Her mom and Charlie got divorced when she was really young, but she used to come back and stay with him every summer. My dad and Charlie would go fishing together all the time, and they used to drag us kids along. Usually Rachel and Rebecca were put in charge of watching us, and they made us play along with whatever stupid thing they were doing. The thing I liked about Bella, even way back then, was that she was usually way more interested in playing with me than them.

I had seen her a few times since she moved her permanently, when my dad and I would go over to the Swan's house to watch Seahawks games on their big screen. But ever since I phased and found out that I was some, strange mythical creature destined to fight vampires, I had pulled away from Bella a little. I hated holding this huge secret from her.

I kind of had a crush on Bella. She just wasn't like most of the girls on the Reservation. She was really smart and not overly girlie, and she liked talking about stuff like movies and video games. I think she knew I had a crush on her. I also didn't think she was interested in me as more than a friend, but sometimes I swear she would send mixed signals, enough that it didn't deter me from trying.

We went over to the Swan's house for dinner the night before I was supposed to start at Forks High. Some of the other Rez kids were supposed to start at Forks this week, but I was the lucky one who already had all the right immunization records and shit to start. After my mom died, my dad started keeping better track of all that stuff for us, which I guess was good, but when all my friends basically had a vacation from school and I didn't, it completely sucked. On the other hand, Dad thought it would be a good idea to reestablish my friendship with Bella before I started school, and I wasn't opposed at all. Phasing had caused a huge growth spurt, so I was kind of happy I could show off my new body for Bella. The last time I saw her I had been a lot scrawnier.

"Whoa! You tower over me now!" was the first thing she said when she saw me.

"Maybe you're just shrinking," I teased.

She stuck out her tongue at me before adding, "What's with the haircut?"

"It was just easier like this than it was when it was long."

"Aw, and here I was hoping we could braid each other's hair."

This time, I stuck my tongue out at her.

We fell into an easy rhythm like we always had before. When Billy and Charlie went into the living room after dinner to watch the Sunday night football game, I stayed in the kitchen with Bella and started asking questions about Forks High.

She told me about all the different buildings and which teachers were the hardest.

"This is boring stuff, Bells. I want the dirt. Where should I sit at lunch? Who are the popular kids? Do you like any of the boys?"

I was just giving her a hard time with the last question, but her whole face turned bright red and I knew I had caught her.

"You do! You have a crush on someone!" I tried not to feel jealous. "Who is he? I bet he's the captain of the football team."

"We don't have a football team."

"Basketball team then? Baseball? Wrestling? I bet you like wrestlers."

"No, Edward doesn't play any sports," she said. Then she clamped her hand over her mouth.

"So his name is Edward, is it?"

I didn't think it was possible, but her face got even redder.

"You're blushing! What? Is he a huge chess team nerd or something? Why are you so embarrassed?"

"Stop it! And he's not on the chess team. He's kind of a loner." She was getting defensive.

"Oh, you like the rebellious, James Dean type do you? Does he ride a motorcycle?"

"I'm not talking about him anymore with you," she finally said, crossing her arms over her chest.

She actually looked kind of pissed off, so I eased up and started asking her about which classes to take. I made a mental note, though, to find this Edward character the next day.

Of course, I tossed and turned all night. Dad wouldn't let me patrol, insisting that I needed a good night sleep. It would have been better if he had, though. As it was, I barely slept at all. I swear I had just drifted off when my alarm pierced through my room.

I hit the snooze a couple times and ended up frantically running around, taking the world's fastest shower and grabbing a bagel to eat on my ride in.

"Later, Dad!" I called as I ran out the door.

My commute to school was almost a half hour, and I was pushing it. I had completely rebuilt the engine, but even so the car was kind of a piece of shit. I could admit it, to myself. When anyone else mocked my car, I told them it was a classic. It had transmission problems and the air conditioner didn't work, but it was a labor of love and it was all mine.

When I got to the parking lot there were still quite a few empty spots, so I figured I wasn't really late. I looked around the lot; there were some cars that were newer than mine, but a lot of them were old and beat up, too. At least I wouldn't stand out for that.

I parked next to Bella's old, red pickup. I had rebuilt the engine for it this summer, so I knew it well. Bella wasn't hanging around her truck, though, so I just made my way to the building marked "Office."

The secretary gave me my schedule and then directed me toward the area where everyone hung out before classes started.

I found Bella immediately, sitting on a picnic table with her nose in a book. I crept over to her. I was going to try to startle her, but her head shot up as soon as I was close.

"Hey, Bella," I said casually, trying to pretend that I wasn't sneaking up on her.

"Hi, Jake," she smirked, though she genuinely looked happy to see me.

I bent down to give her a hug. I probably held on a little too long, but I didn't care. My senses were heightened even in my human form, and I loved the way she smelled. I don't know if it was her shampoo or perfume, but she smelled like a meadow. I didn't realize until then how nervous I was, but her scent was comforting.

She seemed to get that I was nervous and didn't make any cracks at me about it. I sat down next to her on the table, and in a few minutes, a whole group of people had joined us.

I forgot everyone's name almost immediately. There was a Mike, a Jessica and either a Laura or Lauren. She seemed like a complete phony, though, so I didn't care that I didn't remember hers.

I figured I would get teased for being from the Rez, but everyone was actually really friendly.

They asked me about where I went to school before. Some of them liked to come out to La Push beach, and I pretended like this made us have something in common, but in reality, we made fun of all the tourist types who came out to our beach.

Luckily the bell ringing saved me any more awkwardness, so I headed for my first class. They didn't quite know where to place me, because the school on the Rez was so small and we didn't have the same type of grade divisions. Even though I was 16, they based my schedule on my transcript and put me in mostly sophomore classes on a trial basis, so I didn't see Bella again until lunch.

A lot of people introduced themselves to me, and I kind of felt like a minor celebrity, but I was still happy to see Bella's familiar face call me over to her table after I got my tray of shit-tastic school lunch food.

I sat down next to Bella just as the Mike kid got to the table. He glared at me like I took his seat, but Bella didn't seem to mind at all. A girl named Angela was sitting on Bella's other side. Eventually the Jessica girl from earlier in the morning joined us and a kid named Tyler who was in my Biology class. The blond girl I didn't like waved at Tyler, but luckily she didn't sit down with us.

With my heightened senses, I heard Bella's breath hitch a little. I looked over at her and tried to follow where her eyes kept glancing.

"Who are they?" I asked, when I realized she kept trying not to look at a table against the wall where four kids were sitting.

"The Cullens. They're-" Bella started.

"Weirdos," the blond kid, Mike, interrupted.

Then Mike winced, and I realized that Jessica and Bella had simultaneously kicked him under the table.

I snickered.

"The Cullens are maybe a little weird," Jessica started to explain.

"I thought they were a little awkward and snobby at first, but they're actually really, really nice," Bella insisted. "They just keep to themselves a lot."

"Wait, they're all related?" I asked.

I looked over at the table again, and it looked a lot like I was looking at two couples, not four brothers and sisters. Gross.

"No!" Jessica said loudly. "They're not _related_ related. They're all foster kids. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen can't have kids on their own or something, so they started taking in foster kids."

"But it looks like the big one has his hand on his sister's ass."

Mike laughed at my joke.

"That's Emmett and Rosalie. They're dating, but they aren't related. They were already teenagers when the Cullens took them in so it's not like they grew up together."

"Emmett's parents actually died in a really horrible bear attack," Angela added. She was a quiet girl but she seemed sweet. There was genuine sympathy in her voice.

"The hot blond guy, that's Jasper," Jessica said. Her eyes did that glazed over thing that Bella's did when she mentioned Edward. Suddenly it made sense why she was so quick to defend these Cullen kids. "He grew up in Texas and he has the hottest accent."

"The tiny girl, with the spiky hair, that's Alice. She and Jasper are dating, much to Jess's chagrin," Bella said with a smirk.

Jessica glared at Bella across the table. "At least I had the nerve to ask him out. All you ever do is stare at Edward."

I rolled my eyes as soon as I heard the name. I could see Mike doing the same, before Tyler said something to him, distracting him from the current topic. I looked around trying to figure out which one of these clowns was Edward. Apparently Bella's crush wasn't exactly secret.

"I talk to him!"

"They're biology partners," Angela added.

"So you talk about frog's legs and cytoplasm. I don't see you going up and sitting at their lunch table. You're friends with Alice, it's not like they'd turn you away." Jess egged Bella on, making a face when she said Alice's name.

"Wait, Edward's one of them?" I broke in.

Jess and Bella both looked at me like I was an idiot for not knowing who the great Edward was, so Angela helpfully supplied, "He's been with the Cullens the longest. I think they might have actually adopted him."

"So it's Edward Cullen, huh?" I asked.

"And Bella's in love with him," Jess said in a sing-songy voice.

Bella's face flushed again, like it had last night when I was teasing her about having a crush. "I'm not in love with Edward!" she insisted. "I just like him a lot. He's smart."

"And gorgeous," Jess finished.

"You talk about him all the time," I said, trying not to sound as hostile as I felt. "Why don't you just ask him out already and get it over with so I can have my friend back?"

She didn't really talk about him all the time, but every time she said his name she would break eye contact or blush. And every time, it felt like she was punching me in the gut.

Bella was about to respond, when I realized I still didn't know who this guy was.

"And which one is he, if he's not sitting with his brothers and sisters?"

"He's not here," Angela said.

"He was in Biology today," Bella replied. She looked kind of pissed, but at least she was still talking to me. "But he had something to do during lunch today."

I was about to make some snide comment, but the bell rang, effectively shutting me up. I had eaten everything on my tray, but I was still starving. I was going to have to start packing protein shakes or something. After phasing, my metabolism sped up a lot and it seemed like I was _always_ hungry.

I made it through my next couple classes without anything eventful happening. The big Cullen guy, Emmett, was in my Spanish class. I figured out that he was kind of the class clown. When no one knew what the teacher was asking, he would raise his hand and say something in really terrible Spanglish. The rest of the class would laugh and even the teacher would break into a smile. I was set on not liking the Cullens, but I couldn't help laughing along with everybody else.

Gym was my last class of the day. Since Bella was taking mostly Junior classes, it was the only class I had with her all day. They had us all playing volleyball, so I joined her on her side of one of the nets. She was wearing baggy gym shorts and a big Mariners t-shirt. She looked kind of cute and helpless.

"Sorry about giving you a hard time earlier, Bells. I was only teasing." I figured even though I hadn't done anything wrong, I should probably apologize.

"It's okay. I know it's sort of stupid that I'm too afraid to ask Edward out."

"Nah, it's never easy to put yourself out there like that," I said, as if I really had any experience asking girls out.

Bella smiled at me, and I knew we were cool again.

"You might not want to be on my team," she said suddenly, changing the subject.

"Why's that?"

"Remember when you convinced me to play Frisbee this summer?"

"Yeah." I tried not to laugh, but she was easily the worst Frisbee player in the world. I had never seen anyone who couldn't catch a Frisbee from 10 feet away.

She punched me in the arm, but she laughed too.

"I'm even worse at volleyball."

"I don't believe you."

She looked surprised. "I assure you my lack of coordination extends to volleyball."

"No, I don't believe that you could possibly be worse at volleyball than you are at Frisbee. Did you even catch the Frisbee once?"

"Hey! I think I-"

I cut her off by jumping in front of her, hitting the ball that was heading straight toward her back over the net.

Bella's eyes grew really wide. She had been seconds away from taking a volleyball to the face.

I tried to get into the game, covering my position and Bella's. I was naturally pretty athletic, but with my new body, it was actually hard not to hit the ball harder or start spiking it when I was at the net. I didn't want to show off and it wouldn't have been fun for anyone else anyway.

"Oh!" Bella hissed to me when we were mid-game. We rotated positions, so we were in the back row. I tried to keep my eyes on the volleyball while she whispered, "There he is!"

I turned my head to look at who Bella was talking about.

As soon as I turned my head toward the boy she was trying not to gesture at, everything seemed to slow down. I started to feel really warm and light-headed and my stomach went into knots. I completely lost focus on what was going on around me, like I had tunnel vision or something. I was just getting my first glimpse of this Edward Cullen character, and then the world went black.

When I woke up, I was lying on my back and there were at least ten sets of eyes staring down at me. The first ones I noticed were a pair of shocking green ones, looking down at me with intense concern. I was about to reach out for the person connected to them when Bella's face appeared right in front of mine.

"I'm so sorry, Jake! The ball was coming toward me and I just swung at it! I didn't mean-"

"You managed to hit the ball?" I said weakly before groaning.

There were a few snickers in the group when I spoke, I tried finding the green eyes again, but Bella was in my way. Then the gym teacher pushed through everybody and leaned over me along with Bella, effectively stopping my search. I didn't know why I wanted to find the owner of the green eyes so much, but it felt really important.

"He should probably go to the hospital. Will one of you run into my office and call 911?"

Wait, 911? Ambulance? Hospital? They'd take my temperature and quarantine me immediately.

"I don't need to go to the hospital," I sat up quickly and tried not to groan. "I probably don't even have a concussion."

"But the school nurse isn't equipped for head injuries, you need-"

"I'm _not_ going to the hospital," I insisted, my voice was in a low growl as I cut off my teacher.

"I could drive you there, if you didn't want to take the ambulance," Bella's voice was in my ear.

"I don't need a doctor. We have one on the Rez, he can take a look at me when I get home," I tried pushing everyone away, but I was actually feeling a little too dizzy to stand up.

"I don't think you should drive," Bella said.

"No, you shouldn't drive," the gym teacher echoed. At least he was off his ambulance kick.

"My dad can look at him," a smooth voice I didn't recognize cut through all the commotion.

My eyes shot up to follow the voice, staring down at me were the bright green eyes. Once I pulled my gaze away from them, I realized that they were attached to a boy. He was tall with reddish hair, and he was looking down at me with a crooked smile. My stomach flipped, almost like I was nervous. I looked back at him and the rest of the room seemed to disappear around me. Maybe I _did _have a concussion.

"Bella can drive him to the hospital if she wants. My dad can just examine you in his office, you won't even have to check in."

Something about his voice made it hard for me to focus on what he was saying, but I nodded my head in agreement. Bella and the gym teacher started conferring about something that I couldn't focus on. All my attention was on the boy standing in front of me.

"Who-" I started to ask.

"We haven't been properly introduced. My name is Edward Cullen."

He reached out his hand to me and I took it. So this boy with the freakishly green eyes was the famous Edward Cullen. The guy Bella was so enamored with and that I was already set on hating.

Only, I didn't find myself wanting to hate him. At all.


	2. Phase 2

Phase 2

It was all a little fuzzy after Edward helped me up and he and Bella walked me to her truck. My whole body was tingling where Edward had been touching me, and I wondered if I didn't actually have nerve damage or something. Edward got his cell phone out and called his father once we got to the truck. He told us to follow him to the hospital and that his dad would meet us at the employee entrance.

The whole car ride, Bella kept apologizing over and over before I said, "Look, Bella, I'm just impressed that you can hit a ball that hard. Can we drop it now?"

"But I-"

"Remember that time when you were 8 and I was 7, and I pushed you into the lake where our dads were fishing?"

"Yeah," she said skeptically.

"And I thought it would be funny, but you being you ended up landing on a sharp rock and slicing open your foot really bad and we had to take you to the hospital to get stitches?"

"Yes! And you told me that all my blood in the water was going to attract sharks!"

"Lake sharks? I can't believe you thought I was serious."

"I didn't know!"

"Well, anyway, how about we consider ourselves even?"

"Okay, fine. But you can't make me not feel bad. Especially if you have a concussion or something."

"But you'll stop apologizing?"

"Yes."

"Deal."

By that time we were at the hospital. Edward had beaten us there and was nowhere to be found, but Bella parked next to his car. He drove a Volvo, a new Volvo, the kind that they market toward middle aged women, but it had a 2.5L turbocharged engine. It was a powerful car, at least triple the horsepower of my POS. I briefly considered asking Edward if he would let me take it for a test run.

What the hell? Now I wanted to bond with him over his car?

Luckily that train of thought got interrupted by a blond guy in a lab coat coming out into the parking lot. He introduced himself as Carlisle Cullen and led me and Bella into the hospital. I wasn't sure where Edward had disappeared to, and I wasn't sure why I really cared.

I was really worried about dealing with a doctor of any sort, but it turns out that Dr. Cullen was really cool.

He didn't take my temperature or make me get into a stupid paper gown. He checked my blood pressure and then shined a light in my eyes. He told me I just had a mild concussion and told me to take some Tylenol when I got home.

He was just so earnest, it was hard not to tell him that it wouldn't make any difference. Tylenol and over-the-counter drugs just went right through my system. Luckily I healed fast, the headache I had now wasn't going to last longer than an hour. My dad warned me about how dangerous fast-healing could be, but so far I couldn't think of a down side.

The only bad thing about the whole hospital visit, other than Edward's bizarre disappearance, was that Dr. Cullen made me call my dad. I couldn't get a hold of him though, which was kind of weird, so he asked Bella if she would make sure I got home okay. She agreed very solemnly, like she was taking an oath. No matter how much I begged her just to take me back to school so I could get my car, she refused and headed toward the Rez. I was going to have to find a ride into Forks the next day, maybe I'd luck out and Quil would be cleared to start classes tomorrow.

Bella assured me that she would take me to school in the morning if I couldn't find a ride, even though it would add an extra hour to her commute. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I should have been scrambling to get more time to spend alone with Bella, but for some reason, it didn't really appeal to me any more than thinking about riding in with Quil.

As soon as we got to my house, though, I knew something was wrong and I put my strange reaction to Bella out of my head.

On the ride home, I imagined that dad had heard my message and someone would have been there to make sure the doctor wasn't suspicious of anything. Or, better yet, my dad with some of Harry Clearwater's fish fry waiting for me in the kitchen. That wasn't exactly the welcome I got.

Instead of food on the table, there was a note from Dad that read, "Emergency tribal council. Will be home late."

Great.

Bella was standing awkwardly in the kitchen with me, trying to decipher my reaction, so I tried not to look worried. Dad would tell me what happened whenever he got back. There was still the weird feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach that had something to do with Bella, though. I had no idea what changed between last night and right now, but I felt like something was different. I tried to push it all away and act as normal as possible.

"Do you want to stay? Watch some TV?"

"Are you sure you want me to? I might accidentally trip you or spill hot soup all over you or-" She still felt incredibly guilty about causing me a hospital visit, unofficial and unnecessary as it was.

"Bella, stop it. I'll just lie on the couch."

"Well, I feel bad just leaving you here alone. Are you sure?"

"Come on, we never hang out anymore."

Of course, that was entirely my fault. When the pack stuff happened, I stopped going over, but now there was this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach that I didn't know what to make of. It was like, I don't know, like Bella wasn't appealing to me anymore. When I looked at her, she reminded me of Rebecca or Rachel. Could a concussion do that?

She bit her lip and then said, "You're sure you don't fear my assault record?"

"You can't hurt me if I stay on the couch."

She still looked hesitant.

"It's a magical couch."

Bella glared at me, and I could almost see the guilt vaporizing.

"No I'm serious. When I was a kid, I used to pretend that this couch was an island. Everything around it was lava, but my magical couch island was protected from it. So you see, nothing bad can happen to me on this couch."

"Okay, fine."

Bella plopped down into the recliner.

"You know, some popcorn would be nice."

She rolled her eyes, but she stood up and said, "Do you keep it in the same place?"

"Yeah, you know how much my dad likes change."

She went into the kitchen and popped the popcorn. She brought it out in a bowl along with a couple of sodas. We sat and watched Wheel of Fortune in relative silence, until one of the contestants couldn't get "Lord of the Rings" even though she was only missing, like, two letters. Then we started making fun of her and the weird tension in the room seemed to break.

After the Wheel, some stupid crime show came on, so Bella started asking me what I thought about my first day of school.

"It's just school. Same old, same old."

"Well, what did you think of my friends?"

"They were nice. I thought they'd give me a hard time being from the Rez."

"What about Angela? She's really pretty, isn't she?"

"Are you trying to set me up or something? I only met her today."

"No," Bella denied, but she was blushing. "I just thought, I don't know. I know you're not dating anyone."

I had no idea what she was really getting at. Girls were so weird. I changed the subject.

"That Mike kid seems like a tool."

"He's a nice guy!" Bella insisted.

"Yeah, well, he might be 'nice' but he had the personality of a marshmallow."

Bella giggled and then clamped a hand over her mouth like she was caught doing something wrong.

"Well, what about the other guys. They're okay, right? People you could be friends with?"

I rolled my eyes, "Just ask, Bella."

"Just ask what?"

"You and I both know you have a particular guy in mind that for some reason you want my approval of."

"Well, I-"

"Just ask."

"Fine. What do you think of Edward?"

The last thing I should have wanted to talk about was the guy that Bella had a crush on. That's why I was kind of surprised when the words spilled out of my mouth.

"He seems cool."

I think it caught Bella by surprise, too.

"Good," she said, though it was obvious she didn't believe me. "I thought you were going to be set on hating him."

I opened my mouth to answer, but I was saved by the front door banging open. My dad rolled in, followed by Sue Clearwater. Leah and Seth were trailing behind her. Leah's eyes were red and puffy, like she had been crying. I was about to ask her what was wrong when Seth caught my eye and shook his head in warning.

"Hi Bella," my dad said, giving her a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "It's good to see you around here again."

"Well, Dr. Cullen told me that Jake shouldn't drive home, so..."

"Dr. Cullen?" My dad's voice was slightly panicked.

"It's fine," I said immediately, trying to convey that our secret hadn't been exposed. My dad's eyes narrowed, so I launched into the story. "Clearly you need to check the answering machine. Bella whacked me in the back of the head with a volleyball during gym class. I black out for, like, a second. The gym teacher freaked out and wanted me to go to the hospital, but Edward called ahead and had his dad check me out. It was completely unnecessary. The doctor just took my blood pressure and told me I had a mild concussion. No big deal."

"You knocked Jake out?" Seth exclaimed toward Bella, clearly impressed.

"Who is Edward?" Leah asked with a smirk. "You make a new friend?"

"So the hospital didn't admit you?" Instead of caring that I had been hurt, my dad asked for confirmation that no one found out about my not-entirely-human body.

I rolled my eyes at all of them. "Yes, Bella technically knocked me out. Edward is Dr. Cullen's son. And no, they didn't admit me. He just told me to take some Tylenol and sent me on my way. Had to leave my car at school, though."

"I'll take you to school in the morning," Bella insisted.

"Thank you for the offer, Bella, and for bringing him home. You're a good friend, but Leah and Seth are starting school tomorrow, so there won't be any need."

"Okay," Bella said, put off by my dad's demeanor. "Well, I guess I'll be heading home then."

"Thanks again, Bells," I said standing up to walk her to her out. "Even though it was completely unnecessary."

She stuck her tongue out at me, but then said, "Don't get up, I'll probably trip you or something. I'll see you tomorrow."

Sue walked Bella out, making sure she got to her truck all right. As soon as Bella was outside, the tension in the room spiked again.

"What happened?" I asked.

"We thought we'd tell the three of you kids at once," Dad said.

So Leah and Seth hadn't been at the meeting either. I was relieved I wasn't the only one left in the dark. Sometimes I felt like I was still treated like a child. Even though none of the elders phased, they still seemed to think they were in charge of us. Only Sam was allowed at council meetings, and I got the feeling that they didn't let him offer much input.

When Sue came back inside, my dad started gesturing at us all to sit down on the couch.

"And I'm fine by the way. Thanks for your concern," I said to ease the awkward silence.

My dad just shot a glare at me.

"Two things happened today that you need to know about," Sue said calmly.

"First," my dad started. "Paul managed to see one of them on the beach today, during the middle of the day. It was the same female as before."

"She was on the Reservation?" Leah nearly shouted.

"Why aren't we out there tracking her down!" I added.

My dad held up a hand to quiet us. Somehow the seriousness of the situation shut us all up immediately.

"Let me finish. We aren't entirely sure how she got on the beach without our notice. Paul followed her scent but it ended east of Port Angeles. She was picked up in a vehicle headed toward Seattle. If she and the others are hiding out in the city, then we have a challenge in front of us."

"Why?" I said stubbornly. "Why can't we just follow them to where they're staying and get rid of them for good?"

"Ten giant wolves trolling the streets of Seattle aren't exactly inconspicuous," Sue said calmly.

"And it just wouldn't be prudent until we know what we are dealing with. So far, we've only seen three, but we think it's likely they know about us now, especially if they are capable of coming onto our lands without us knowing," my dad added.

"Plus, we still don't know what their numbers are. You can't just go traipsing into a situation when we don't have the facts," Sue continued.

Damn them for sounding so level-headed.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Leah asked the more obvious question.

"Well, you are all still going to school," Sue said with a smile.

We let out a collective groan.

"But, we're going to have to start patrolling during the day. Some of the other tribe members have volunteered to start a watch program and we're going to have to ask you to go on some longer tracking missions that you're used to. We think it would be a good idea to go to Seattle this weekend," Dad explained.

"But-" I started.

"As humans," he added.

We were silently digesting the new information when Seth spoke up.

"What was the second thing, then?"

My dad shifted uncomfortably in his chair and Sue turned to look right at Leah, her eyes softening in what looked like sympathy.

"Sam imprinted," she said softly.

"Imprinted?" I asked, trying to figure out what she meant. "Like what baby birds do?"

"Not exactly," my dad said, glancing over at Leah, whose eyes were brimming with tears.

"Imprinting is how wolves pick their mates," Sue started. "Your imprint is your perfect match, and as soon as you see them, you feel an immediate connection to them."

"Like love at first sight?" I snorted.

"Not exactly," Sue said, taking my questions seriously. "You feel the connection immediately, but your imprint might not be ready to fall in love. So, you'll be whatever they need you to be until they are ready to accept you as their mate, assuring the strength of the Quileute line."

"What does the connection feel like?" Seth asked eagerly. Figured, the kid was always flirting with girls on the Rez.

"Well, you'll have to ask Sam. I'm sure you'll see it the next time you phase, but he said he felt pulled toward her. He got really warm and then every other connection he felt to anyone kind of snapped and tied to her."

It finally dawned on me that Leah, Sam's girlfriend, was clearly not Sam's imprint. No wonder she looked so upset. Sam probably dumped her earlier today.

"Who did he imprint on?"

"Emily," Leah spat, like she had finally put two and two together. "He imprinted on my fucking cousin."

Then she stood up and rushed out of the room. Sue was fast on her heels. Seth's eyes followed them, but he remained seated with a pained expression on his face.

"She'll be all right," my dad tried to console Seth. "We're not quite sure how it works with a female wolf, but we think she'll imprint eventually too."

"Yeah, but she's going to be a complete bitch to be around until that happens," Seth groaned.

My dad barked out a laugh.

"You wanna stay here tonight?" I asked. "To avoid her wrath?"

"If it's okay?"

"The couch is all yours," my dad said. "You kids want dinner?"

That got our attention. We both hopped up and went into the kitchen, everything else temporarily forgotten.

I had to pretend like there was nothing wrong at school the next day.

It was a little bit easier having Seth and Leah around. Even though we didn't have the same connection in human form, it was nice to be able to have friends there who understood why I would sometimes get antsy or stare off into space for no apparent reason when I was actually worrying about vampires getting on our lands. Leah was still moping around, so Seth and I tried to explain to everyone who came up to us that morning that she was just really shy and not a complete bitch.

Though, she kind of was, even before Sam imprinted on her cousin.

At lunch, Bella came up and sat down right next to me all excited.

"Did you hear?"

"That I'm now the hottest guy in this school? Yeah, it may have been mentioned to me once or twice."

Bella rolled her eyes at me, "No, Mr. Modest, the Cullens are throwing a party this weekend!"

"And that's a good thing?" I asked.

"Yes!" Jessica shrieked, sitting down next to Bella.

Seth, who, along with a still-mopey Leah, had sat down with us, gave me a terrified look. I had to stifle a laugh, but Jessica didn't notice, she just kept rambling on.

"No one has ever been to their house before. They live back in the woods so it's all hidden and stuff. The doctor and Mrs. Cullen are going out of town for the whole weekend, so Alice decided that they should have a party on Friday night. It's going to be off the hook!"

"Wait," I interrupted her mid-squeal. "I thought you said they were all weird."

"No! Mike said that. We're friends with Alice," she insisted, nudging Bella.

"Yeah, she's really nice. She invited us personally during English class this morning. You have to come, Jake!"

I looked at Bella's eager expression. I wasn't exactly sure why she wanted me to come to this party. So I could watch her try to climb all over Edward? The idea made my stomach turn.

"I wasn't invited," I insisted, leaning back and crossing my arms.

"Of course you're invited, Jacob." A smooth voice spoke from behind me and my heart started pounding frantically as I spun around.

Standing right behind me, holding his lunch tray, was Edward. I opened my mouth to make some retort, but it died in the back of my throat. I couldn't seem to think with those green eyes gazing down at me. I knew I was probably staring, but I just couldn't move. It seemed like Edward was having the same problem.

Then a loud voice broke through our weird staring contest.

"Yes! You have to come!" I looked over at the source of the voice. Standing right next to me, clutching my arm as if we were old friends was the tiny girl with short, spiky black hair.

"I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself before," she shot a glare toward Edward as she spoke. "I'm Alice Cullen."

"Um, nice to meet you."

She plopped down in the seat next to me, and then glared up at Edward. He rolled his eyes before taking the last empty chair at the table.

"Where's Jasper?" Jessica asked, before she realized she probably shouldn't have. "Oh! I mean, unless you guys are fighting or something. Forget I asked."

Alice just laughed, "It's okay. We're not attached at the hip or anything." As if to illustrate, she turned toward the table with the other three Cullen kids. As if by magic, Jasper looked over at her and smirked. She blew him a kiss, which he pretended to catch and shove in his shirt pocket. Normally, it would have made my eyes roll, but when I turned back to the table, I caught Edward's eye and froze again. This was getting ridiculous.

I tried to shake Edward out of my head and focused back on the tray of food in front of me. Even though I winked and flirted my way into the lunch ladies giving me bigger portions this time, it still wasn't enough.

The girls chatted around me while I ate, talking about what they were going to wear to the party and how they were going to do their hair.

"Do you want my cake?" Edward's velvet voice cut through the buzz around me.

"What?" I asked. I was starting to hate how off my guard I felt around the guy.

"You still look hungry, and I don't really like chocolate." He looked hesitant, like I was going to bite him or something.

"You don't like chocolate?" I asked, while I reached for the proffered cake.

"Not really, except peanut M&Ms for some reason," he shot me a crooked smile.

"Not plain?" I smirked back, taking a big bite of cake.

"Too much chocolate." He leaned forward a little, his eyes focused on the forkful of cake I was bringing to my lips.

"I only like peanut M&Ms, too," Bella butted in.

I had no idea she had been listening to Edward and me talk, but her voice seemed to break up the little moment he and I were sharing.

Alice jumped in to offer her take on M&Ms and before I knew it, the bell rang. As we got up from the table, I noticed that Bella had a weird smile on her face.

"What?" I asked, nudging her shoulder.

"They've never sat with us at lunch before," she whispered.

The rest of the school day went by aching slow. To make matters worse, the gym teacher insisted that I not participate in volleyball because of my concussion. Instead of letting me go home early, he had me go to the library to wait out the rest of the school day. It was complete bullshit, but it left me a lot of time to wonder about the vampire that had been spotted on the Rez. Since Paul spotted her on the beach, it only made sense that she must have swam. I didn't know where I could find out more about vampires other than what Sam and my dad had told me, but most of that came from tribal legends. It seemed to contradict a lot of what I knew about vampires from movies. The other sightings had all happened at night, so I just figured they couldn't go out during the day, but that had been proven wrong. Somehow a day-walking vampire that could swim in the rough Pacific waters made this whole thing a lot worse than I originally thought.

I went on patrol that night, being careful to patrol the shoreline, trying to pick up the sweet stench of vampire. I could only pick up a faint trace in one place, though, presumably where she came out of the water. I wondered where she entered the water. I sent a message to Jared that I was heading north along the coast.

_Just be careful_.

_I'm rolling my eyes at you_, I sent to him before I took off.

The fact that she came to the shore exactly where most of the residents of La Push lived was a sure sign that she knew about us, but I ran for miles and miles up the coast and there was absolutely no sign of her, or any other vampire's, scent. She must have entered the water from off of our lands.

The thought terrified me.

How could we track vampires underwater?

I ran back to meet up with Jared up on the cliffs. He was standing in his human form with Sam, who was set to relieve us. When I told him my suspicions he was relatively silent.

"What are we supposed to do?"

"The first thing we do is get some answers tomorrow," Sam said gruffly.

I was so exhausted from patrolling that Dad let me stay home from school that morning. I tried to convince him to let me stay home the whole day, but at 10 o'clock, he kicked me out of the house and made me go in.

School was completely normal for the rest of the week, except it seemed like I ran into Edward Cullen everywhere. Alice and Edward started sitting with us at lunch, and every day, Edward would give me his dessert. I never said much at lunch. Every time I started talking to Edward, Bella would butt into the conversation. Mike would see that Bella was hanging onto Edward's every word, so he would jump in. That would make Jessica pull herself away from her conversation with Alice, leaving Alice and Seth to talk to each other, both trying to pull Leah into the conversation. Meanwhile, Edward would be giving me apologetic looks, and I got the feeling that he would rather just be talking to me.

Finally Friday rolled around, and all anyone could talk about was the Cullen's party that night. It sounded like the entire school was going to be there. People kept coming up to Edward and Alice at lunch to ask them questions, making sure they were invited, whether or not they should raid their parents liquor cabinet.

I didn't listen too much to all the talk. Seth wanted to go to the party so I agreed to go, and if I were being honest, I kind of wanted to go too. Our trip to Seattle was planned for Saturday, but somehow my dad let me go to the Cullen's party anyway.

"Just don't stay out too late," was all he said before I took off.

I guess he figured that if I was allowed to phase into a wolf and patrol for vampires, I could handle a high school party. I picked up Seth at his house on my way. Leah had refused to come, even though Alice tried to convince her that day at lunch that she was absolutely welcome. I invited Quil along too, because he would be starting on Monday, but it was his grandmother's birthday or something.

Bella texted me directions, and I found the Cullen's house without a problem.

It was clear that the party was already in full swing by the time Seth and I showed up, so we just walked in. Even though he had only been at Forks High for four days, everybody seemed to know Seth, and he disappeared into a horde of girls almost immediately.

The Cullen's house was huge. I knew that doctors got paid a lot of money, but I didn't really think about just how much. The house was nothing like my dad's. There were tall ceilings and everything seemed light and open. I followed the noise and found myself wandering into the kitchen.

The first thing I saw was Mike Newton handing Bella a beer from out of the fridge. She saw me right away.

"Jake!" she squealed, running over and giving me a hug.

"Bella, how much have you had to drink?"

"Just a beer."

"Give me your car keys."

"What? I'm fine."

"Give them to me right now, Bells. Let me know when you're ready to leave, and I'll drive you home."

Bella looked like she was about to argue with me, so I went in for the kill.

"Think about how pissed your dad would be if he knew you drove home after drinking."

"You're right," she said with a sigh, but she forked over her keys.

I felt his eyes on me then. I didn't even need to turn around to know that Edward had entered the kitchen. I was compelled to turn my head anyway, and I found him smiling at me and Bella fondly. Or maybe just me. I couldn't tell, but it made my stomach do a flip.

Then Newton had to draw my attention back, "I would have driven her home."

"Sure, sure," I replied. "But I'm not drinking, so I'm clearly the better candidate."

He was about to make some asinine response, I'm sure, until he suddenly seemed to realize that I was a head taller than him and a hell of a lot bigger.

I just rolled my eyes and he backed off. I whipped my head back around, but Edward was gone. Bella seemed to be happily sipping her second beer and was laughing at something Mike said, so I went into the living room. I tried to tell myself that I was just looking for Seth, but the truth was, I was looking for Edward. I needed to understand what his look in the kitchen meant, and, well, I just felt like I needed to be around him. It looked like furniture had been cleared out of the way and people, well, girls, were dancing.

I felt extremely out of place and regretted being responsible for getting Seth and now Bella home. I was considering hanging out in my car when Alice came up to me.

"You're not having a good time."

"What? No, it's fine."

She put her hands on her hips.

"Parties just aren't really my thing."

"Come with me."

She grabbed me by my elbow and started dragging me somewhere. I was at least twice her size, probably more, but I let myself be pulled along as she took me down a flight of stairs to the basement. The basement alone was probably bigger than my entire house. There were some couches and a TV in the corner closest to the stairs and past those was basically the sickest game room I had ever seen.

"Jasper. Emmett. This is Jacob. I have a feeling he know his way around a pool table."

Jasper and Emmett both nodded at me. Forks was a small enough high school that I'm sure they knew who I was, but they were both seniors, so I really had no reason to talk them. There were a couple other guys down in the basement playing ping pong. Emmett clap his hand on my shoulder told us he'd take the winner of me and Jasper. I tried not to let my inner dork show when I saw the arcade consoles by the rack of pool cues. Jasper told me I could break, so I started setting up my shot.

"You boys have fun," Alice said, before giving Jasper a kiss and leaving us to it.

I wasn't a great pool player, but I got lucky on a few shots and managed to beat Jasper. Both he and Emmett were really easy going. I started to wonder why the Cullen kids were supposedly "weird."

I got a glimpse of it, though, when the other Cullen, the blond chick, came downstairs, effectively interrupting our game as she proceeded to stick her tongue down Emmett's throat. When he lifted her up to sit on the pool table, Jasper rolled his eyes.

"Well, that's that."

We both went upstairs. Jasper found Alice and I went into the kitchen for a soda.

I wandered back into the living room. Bella was dancing with Mike. Well, it could hardly be called dancing. She was basically humping his leg while he was trying to figure out where on her body he should put his hand. What worried me was that I didn't feel jealous. Mike was kind of lame, but if Bella wanted lame, then far be it from me to step in. It wasn't like he was groping her or anything and she looked like she was having fun.

I didn't get what had changed my feelings toward her. Then Edward appeared, snapping my thoughts to him. He was standing across the room from me. His eyes were on the dance floor, and he looked really intense. I followed his line of vision and realized that he was looking at Bella and Mike, too. I wondered if he was going to step in between them. I looked back at Edward only to find him staring right at me instead.

My gut lurched, so I pulled myself away and stepped outside for some air. I was leaning against the railing of the deck, looking out into the woods, when I heard the door slide open.

I knew it was Edward before I turned around. It was really weirding me out how aware of him I was.

"So, are you just going to let Newton climb all over Bella?" I snapped at him while I turned around.

Edward looked startled for a second and then shrugged. "She's not my girlfriend or anything."

"Don't you want her to be?" I couldn't hide the bitterness in my voice, the worst part was, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that it was Bella I was jealous of. Not Edward.

"I- I- I thought I did, but now I don't think so."

"Oh," I replied lamely.

I didn't know what to say, so I sat down on the steps that went down into their back yard. He was still standing behind me, not moving or saying anything.

"You can sit down you know, you're kind of giving me the creeps just hovering back there like that."

"Okay," he said softly.

He sat down next to me. He wasn't close enough that we were touching, but I still felt a prick of static electricity shoot through my body. He didn't say anything, but somehow, I felt a lot less anxious than I had before. I didn't understand what was going on, but I wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"So, I thought you liked Bella," I finally said.

"I thought I did."

"But you don't anymore?"

"No," he said slowly, like he was surprised by it. "Ever since you showed up at school, I just- I don't know. It's like everything is different now."

"Huh," I responded.

Geez. Edward Cullen was turning me into an inarticulate dope. That's when I realized that my heart was pounding in my chest. I finally turned my head to look at Edward and all I could see were those damn piercing green eyes. His scent was filling my nostrils and I felt like I was drowning. I inched closer and closer to him involuntarily. He started to lean in toward me. It was like we were magnets, being forced together by some force larger than both of us.

"Jake?" Bella's voice cut through cool air.

I tried not to groan as I turned toward her. I'm sure it looked weird. We were sitting next to each other on the Cullen's deck, much closer than two boys would normally sit. I tried to subtly scoot away from Edward.

"What's up, Bells?"

"I- I have to be home by midnight." She hiccuped. "I probably shouldn't drive."

I got up, shooting an apologetic look at Edward. He seemed to understand, though. He just leaned over a little and gave my shoulder a nudge. That little movement made my whole body go up in flames. I practically stumbled back into the Cullen's house, like I was the one who was drunk, one question running over and over again in my mind.

Could I be gay?


	3. Phase 3

**A/N:** Since a few of you have asked, I thought I'd clarify that the Cullens are all fragile little humans in this story. :)

* * *

><p><span>Phase 3<span>

I managed to get enough of a grip to drop Bella off, while Seth followed behind me in her truck. Seth didn't exactly have a driver's license, but I knew Charlie would be really suspicious if Bella's truck wasn't there in the morning. I figured it was the least I could do since apparently I was trying to steal her crush. Though she seemed to be cozy enough with Newton. I didn't get the appeal, but that was the least of my problems.

I tossed and turned all night.

I had almost kissed Edward Cullen.

The scary thing was that I really wanted to, and I was pretty sure he wanted me to, too.

It was just so weird. Shouldn't I know if I was attracted to boys by now? I thought about Bella. I really did like her. I thought she was attractive. Or, at least, I told myself I did. Then again, she was safe. She was a friend. She wasn't very feminine. She wasn't curvy. I could joke around with her like I would Quil or Embry. Shit. I guess I didn't even really think about her as being a girl all that much. I never really liked any of the girls on the Rez, but I always figured it was because I grew up with them. When you could still remember playing in the dirt and making mud pies with a girl, it didn't exactly stir up lust. It wasn't that I didn't think girls were attractive but maybe I wasn't really attracted _to_ them.

I thought about Edward, the way I could feel the heat of his body next to mine when we sat on the steps, and the way it set my whole body on edge. My dick definitely reacted to him.

I had basically no sexual experience. I guess it was possible I was gay. I liked the idea of kissing Edward. If I was really being honest, I liked the idea of doing more than kissing Edward. I couldn't ignore the way my body was reacting to just the idea of it, even though I'd never had those feelings for guys before. I mean, yeah, I noticed Sam's body after he phased, Paul and Jared too. But I was just admiring their bodies to compare, wasn't I?

I felt a little uncomfortable when the guys started talking about sex or what they had done with girls. I always rationalized it away though. I had older sisters and so I thought it was disrespectful to talk about girls like that. But the truth was, the idea of having sex with a girl kind of freaked me out a little too.

It was too much to deal with.

By the time morning came around, I had barely slept.

The pack met at Sam's house, which was quickly becoming Sam and Emily's house. Emily cooked a huge breakfast for all of us, but I was too wound up to eat. Paul and Embry were having a contest to see who could fit the most blueberry muffins in their mouth at once, and it kind of made my stomach turn.

Leah was in the living room, pouting on the sofa, so after I choked down some eggs, I went to join her.

"You know you can't actually kill someone by glaring at them, right?"

"Shut up, Jake."

I remembered the first time Rebecca got dumped. She had been dating this guy named Tony who went to Forks High. They dated for about a year, which was a long time in high school. I always liked him, he never talked down to me when he came over to our house. Sometimes he would toss a football around with me. Rebecca used to talk about marrying him. I think she even planned out names for their children. Until one day, she came home in tears and locked herself in her and Rachel's bedroom.

She cried for days and wouldn't eat. Even Rachel couldn't comfort her.

My dad was pretty hands-off as far as parenting went, but I remember him being worried to the point of desperation. He tried threatening, bribing, even begging, but eventually we just had to wait her out. About three days later, she emerged from her room like normal and the four of us made a tacit agreement to never speak of 'the Tony incident' again.

I figured that Leah would get over it eventually, and the only thing we could do was put up with her pouting. I tried my luck with an olive branch.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry Sam wasn't your imprint."

She turned opened her mouth, probably to tell me to shove my 'sorrys' up my ass, but she closed her mouth and shrugged.

"It's not your fault."

"Yeah, well, it still sucks."

"Why are you suddenly all understanding about this?"

I didn't know if I could really answer her. It was just that all the crap with Edward and Bella had me so confused, I was starting to think that love totally wasn't worth it.

"I don't know," I said. "Relationships are hard enough as it is. Feelings are confusing. To have your choice in the matter completely taken away, it's just not fair."

"No, it isn't."

We didn't say anything else, but it was the most comfortable I had felt around someone in a long time.

Eventually everyone else had finished stuffing their faces and came into the living room. Sam made us all quiet down and then made some speech about how important this was and to keep our heads straight and be alert. Truthfully, I wasn't really listening all that closely.

We drew straws to see who would stay behind to patrol, I was almost hoping to draw one of them. I wasn't sure I could handle being around all the guys today, but it turned out Collin and Brady were the lucky two.

The drive to Seattle was long and kind of a pain in the ass because we had to deal with the ferries. We took two cars, with Sam and Jared each driving. I followed Leah to Jared's car and Quil joined us, which I was grateful for. Quil was quiet and I just didn't have the energy to be social and pretend like I wasn't having a major identity crisis. Luckily something about the motion of the car made me tired, so I finally got a couple much needed hours in.

By all appearances, we were just a bunch of small town kids going to the city for the first time, but of course, it was really a tracking mission. I had only been to Seattle once before, and it had been a long time ago when my mom was still alive. I was so young when she died that my memories of her were starting to get fuzzy. I did remember going there over Christmas break once, though. My mom loved ballet. She had been a dancer when she was younger, and she had taken me and my sisters to see The Nutcracker. I remember getting caught up in the story and was really disappointed when I found out it was all a dream. When I told my mom what I thought about it, she cupped my face in her hands and said, "Just because it's a dream doesn't mean it's not real."

It was one of my most vivid memories of her. I wrapped my arms around myself in the car and tried not to let the tears threaten my eyes. Somehow I just knew that I could talk to my mom about what was going on with me and she would understand in a way no one else would. Most of the time, I didn't think about it too much. I grew up mostly without my mom being there, but occasionally I really, really missed her, and it just wasn't fair that everyone else had a mom and I didn't.

I was pulled back to the present by the car stopping.

We were in a parking garage somewhere in Seattle, forced to trust that Sam knew what he was doing.

As soon as we all piled out of the cars, it sort of hit me how futile this seemed. Seattle was a huge city and in human form, the idea of tracking down a clan of vampires seemed insane.

"Where are we going to even start?" I asked.

"Well, I know the general area where the female's scent was strongest. It was obvious that she frequents this area."

We all looked at Sam. We knew that Embry had tracked a vampire _to_ Seattle, but this meant that Sam had tracked them all the way into the city without telling anyone.

"Look, just don't tell the elders. That's an order. It was in the middle of the night and I was really careful. If we want to track them at all, we had to know where to start!"

He was right, of course, it was just so unlike Sam to just disregard the elders like that. Everyone else looked just as shocked as me, but what could we say? He was right and he gave us enough information to go on. Suddenly the tracking mission was getting a lot more interesting.

"Okay, we're going to split up," Sam continued. "Seth, you come with me. Jake go with Paul. Quil, you're with Embry. That leaves Jared and Leah."

We all shuffled our positions. Leah grunted at the order, but she didn't complain outright. Even though I could understand why she was so angry at the situation with Sam, I was dreading the day I had to patrol with her. All the other guys said it was awful. She couldn't stop thinking about Sam or remembering them together. Embry told me that one night he got a glimpse of her thinking about having sex with Sam.

Oh shit, that meant if I didn't get my thoughts under control, someone was going to find out about my sexual identity crisis. I had no idea how anyone was going to take it. I didn't know any gay guys. A lot of tribes had the idea of "two-spirit" people, but that was when a man took on traditionally female roles. I didn't know if the fact that I think I wanted to make out with Edward Cullen was really the same thing as a guy who liked to weave rugs instead of hunting.

Jared nudged me and I realized that we were the last two left in the parking garage.

"Something wrong, Jake?"

"Nah. Just... got a lot on my mind, I guess."

He looked at me curiously but changed the subject. "We're supposed to head east and then meet back here in two hours."

"What do we do if we see one of the blood-suckers?"

"Well, odds are that they will notice our scent the same way we can track theirs, so we have to stay out in broad daylight. We don't think they'll do anything if there are people around."

"Makes sense."

I really needed to focus on the task at hand. It never really occurred to me that we might actually run into one of them.

We stepped out of the garage and started walking due east. Even in my human form, I could smell them. The sweet stench of vampire seemed to be everywhere around this disgusting neighborhood. I couldn't imagine why vampires would choose to live in an industrial area, but there was no doubting their presence.

The road we were on was pretty heavily trafficked, so Jared and I could talk freely without fear of being overheard.

"It's getting stronger," Jared said. "I think it's coming from across the street."

I stopped short and sniffed the air.

"It's different."

"What?"

"The smell is different from the scent I've tracked on the Rez."

"It smells exactly the same to me."

"No, the disgusting sweet smell is still there, but it's more than that. There's something, I don't know, more metallic about it."

I jogged to the corner of the intersection and impatiently started hitting the 'walk' button. Jared hurried to catch up. The smell got even stronger as we crossed over to the other side. There weren't a lot of other people walking around where we were, and we were definitely in an area that was mostly industrial and abandoned. We walked another block and then the scent was so strong Jared could smell it too. It was getting mixed up in the smell of all the exhaust from the traffic as we got closer to an on ramp, though. I could no longer tell which direction it was coming from.

I _had_ to phase.

"It's starting to fade," I told Jared. "I could track it."

"Jacob, it's too dangerous."

"No. This is important, I can feel it."

"Sam is going to be pissed."

"Yeah, well, he broke the rules first. If he didn't want us to phase, he would have ordered us."

Jared didn't respond right away, and I knew he was going to cave. Sam only gave the order not to tell anyone that he had phased, there was no reason, other than maybe sheer stupidity, why I shouldn't do it.

"Look, you keep watch. Pretend I'm your dog or something."

"Dude. You're almost taller than me when you phase, no one's going to believe that my dog has elephantiasis or a steroid habit."

"Well, then I'm just going to have to stay out of sight."

"This is stupid, Jake."

"Just let me know if anyone is coming and I'll phase back."

"Then you'll just be some naked dude walking down the street."

"I'll pretend to be drunk or something. Just trust me, no one is going to see me. There's hardly anyone around and there are a lot of places to hide around here. There's no way we'll be able track the scent otherwise."

"Fine."

"Now come on, you're going to have to carry my clothes."

I looked around to make sure no one was watching, then I ducked behind what appeared to be a mostly abandoned strip mall. I tugged off my t-shirt and then shucked off my pants, only realizing when they were at my ankles that I needed to take my shoes off first. Jared was obviously trying not to laugh at me, so I flipped him off. Once I got my shoes off, I chucked them at him hard. As soon as I was completely naked and I knew Jared had all my shit, I phased. I wasn't going to be able to talk to him, but he would at least be able to talk to me.

I stayed really close to the side of the building as I sniffed the air. I glanced over my shoulder at Jared he kept looking back and forth which made him look completely suspicious.

I phased back.

"What the fuck?"

"You look like you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar. Quit acting so shady."

"So I'm just supposed to casually walk down the street holding another man's clothes, keeping watch for anyone who might notice a giant, fucking wolf skulking around?"

"Yes!"

Jared rolled his eyes, "Just phase back. There's no one around anyway."

I shot him one last warning glare and then phased back.

The first thing I noticed was that the metallic scent I had smelled in my human form was about ten times stronger. As a wolf, I recognized it. It was blood. That's when I spotted the warehouse.

A shiver ran down my spine when I saw it, and even though I spotted a route toward it that would keep me in shadows the whole way, I was still filled with dread. With one more look back at Jared, who gave me a nod, I took a deep breath and started forward.

The warehouse was off the road a bit and there was a large parking lot in front of it that was abandoned and overgrown. It was obvious that the building hadn't been used in years. Between the overgrowth and a few surrounding buildings, it was very easy for me to approach it.

I was about twenty yards away when I caught a different scent. It wasn't quite the same as either the sweet stench of vampire we were initially tracking or the new smell I couldn't quite place. It smelled almost... musty, like the moth balls old ladies kept in their closets. I made a snap decision and started following it instead. The path I was taking was downwind, making me realize that whoever the musty scent belonged to, they didn't want to be found either.

The path this scent took brought me around to the other side of the warehouse. I was only about ten yards away when I heard it. There were voices and loud, clanking noises like rocks being thrown at the hood of a car.

Then there was a scream.

A decidedly non-human scream.

I crept forward, following the musty scent. It lead to a fire escape along the back of the building. It was a little awkward without opposable thumbs and because the stairs were so small. They creaked under my weight and I worried that whoever had screamed would be able to hear me, but nothing came. When I reached the top of the fire escape, I was all the way up on the roof of the building.

I questioned the sanity of my actions because I realized I was trapped. The fire escape was the only way off the roof. Maybe the scent I had been following was something leaving the building, not coming toward it.

Another loud scream got my attention. I got as low to the ground as I could and started crawling toward the direction of the sound. That's when I saw the hole in the roof. It looked like it had been partially blown out or had collapsed or something, but whatever caused it enabled me to look down into the building. The smell I had noticed, the sweet metallic stench of blood, was wafting out of it. I crawled forward slowly, unsure of the stability of the roof. It seemed solid enough to hold my weight, though, so I got right up to the edge and looked down.

It suddenly made sense why ten of us had phased. There were definitely more than three vampires in the area.

They looked like animals, crawling over each other. They were dirty, wearing shredded clothes, unlike the other two vampires we had spotted. I saw two fighting with each other, snarling and hissing. When one of them managed to get his teeth into the other's shoulder, the first one let of a scream of pain like the one I heard before.

I realized that the largest group was about five or six of them. They were all grouped in front of a taxicab that was parked in the corner. They were pushing and shoving but not really fighting with each other, and they were all spattered in what looked like blood.

Oh fuck.

I closed my eyes and started gagging when I realized that they were all feeding on a human body, probably the driver of the cab. I steeled myself and took another look. Sure enough, there were two more bodies lying beside the cab. They had bite marks all over them, and I didn't have to guess to know they were drained.

I had to get out of there. If they detected my scent, it didn't seem to bother them enough to look up. I did one more quick scan. I didn't see the red-head, but I did see at least three more groups of vampires covered in blood. There were at least 15, maybe closer to 20, and they seemed to be completely out of control.

I got off the roof as fast as I could and I ran back to where Jared was waiting. I wasn't really keeping a low profile, but I didn't care. As soon as I spotted Jared I phased. I was panting and a little out of breath, but mostly I felt like I was going to throw up.

"What happened? What did you see?" Jared asked as he thrust my clothes into my hands.

"Leeches. Tons of them. Fifteen at least."

"That many?" Jared gasped. He started to look a little green around the gills, too.

"It looked like a fucking army. They don't seem to be organized, though. Like, they seemed perfectly willing to kill one another without remorse."

"What the fuck?"

"They were more like wild animals than anything else. I saw them-" I stopped to gag again. "I saw them feeding."

"Feeding?"

"On people."

"Oh shit," Jared said, clamping a hand on my shoulder.

We had all hunted in our animal form, occasionally feeding on a rabbit or even a deer, but seeing human beings getting torn apart by those wild leeches was more than I could stomach. Jared stopped at a gas station and bought me a bottle of water. I chugged it down, hoping it would help settle the bile in my throat.

We trudged back to the meeting point, feeling defeated. Even though I had gotten information, it was a lot worse than any of us expected.

We were the first to return to the meeting point, but the rest of the pack showed up a few minutes later. I didn't say anything to anyone, but it was pretty obvious that something had freaked me out.

"What happened, dude?" Paul finally asked.

"Not here," Sam said. There was a warning in his voice that made us all hurry into the cars.

I barely remembered the ride home. I wish I could have slept, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw one blood-sucker drinking from the neck of that cab driver.

We stopped to eat outside the city, and it was there I was finally able to spill an abbreviated version of what I had seen. Everyone but Jared let out a gasp. We were in a public place, so they tried to keep cool, but the terror in their eyes was unmistakeable.

"What the fuck are we supposed to do now?" Paul asked the obvious question.

"I'll consult the elders first thing tomorrow," Sam said calmly. "This is very curious given what Seth and I saw."

"What did you see?" I asked with a groan.

"I think I'd rather consult with the elders about this first. I'm going to need you to tell me everything you saw, Jacob. Down to the last detail."

Sam made me switch places with Embry and I spent practically the entire car ride back telling and retelling what I saw and smelled. Sam didn't seem concerned with the second scent I followed, and was a lot more interested in how the vampires I saw were acting.

"Why the fascination with them acting like zombified animals?"

"Don't tell anyone else this yet," Sam said in a whisper, looking into the backseat where Paul was zoned out with his iPod and Seth was asleep. "But Seth and I saw two more vampires."

My mouth dropped open in reaction, but no sound came out. Were they everywhere?

"They were both male, and one of them was definitely the same one we saw before."

"Why don't you want anyone else to know?"

"I need to sort something out before I tell everyone else. I ordered Seth not to say anything and I'll do the same to you, but I know that you'll stay level-headed about this."

"Tell me."

"They saw us."

"What?" I screeched, before realizing I was supposed to be keeping quiet so Paul didn't overhear.

"They definitely saw us. Even though we were on the street, they must have caught our scent, because they both looked right at Seth and I from across the street."

"And they didn't do anything?"

"It was the strangest thing, Jake. They both nodded at us."

"The hell?" I exclaimed.

This was too much. First I saw an army of rabid vampires and then I find out Sam saw two others who not only didn't threaten two of their mortal enemies, but gave them a casual greeting. Something just wasn't adding up.

By the time we got home, I was exhausted. I fell into bed with my clothes still on and didn't wake up until noon the next day.

I spent my Sunday afternoon catching up on homework, trying not to think about everything that happened the day before, and then dad and I went over to the Swan's house for dinner. I was actually kind of nervous about going over there and facing Bella. I didn't know what to say to her about the party. She caught me about ready to kiss Edward Cullen while I had basically pawned her off on Mike "the marshmallow" Newton of all people.

When we got to the Swan's house, Bella's truck wasn't there so I thought I lucked out. It turned out she was just running to the grocery store to get a few things.

When she got back, dad, Charlie and I were all sitting in the living room. I was trying to pretend I cared about the Seahawks game.

"Help Bella with the grocery bags, Jake. Where are you manners?" my dad scolded.

I didn't say anything, but got up and went into the kitchen.

"Hey, Bella."

"Hi, Jake." She was looking down at her shoes.

I didn't know what to say to her. Was I supposed to apologize? Should I ask her what was going on with Mike? I decided to play it safe, for the time being.

"Need any help?"

"No. I've got it."

"Okay."

Dinner was completely awkward. I think both our dads noticed that something was off. Usually conversation was really easy between me and Bella, but tonight we both just ate in silence as Charlie and dad talked about some sort of ice fishing trip they were planning in a couple weeks.

When they went back to the living room for the game, my dad glared at me with a 'fix this' expression on his face. So I jumped up to help Bella with the dishes. We worked in silence for a while until Bella finally broke the tension.

"We can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Pretending like nothing happened on Friday."

"What do you think happened on Friday?"

"What?"

"What did you see?"

"What do you mean, what did I see? What did you see?"

Huh? Now I was really confused. Maybe Bella didn't see me moving in on Edward. Maybe she was just drunk enough not to notice. But then, what was she talking about?

She looked at me curiously, but I could tell she wanted to tell me. Finally she blurted out, "I kissed Mike Newton."

"Ew! Why?"

"What do you mean 'ew'? Mike's cute!"

"In the same way a golden retriever is cute!" I replied, ignoring the irony.

Bella crossed her arms, and I knew I had screwed up.

"Well, I don't think Edward likes me, and Mike was just... there."

"You were hanging out with him a lot at the party," I rationalized.

"Yeah, he was actually really sweet."

I tried not to roll my eyes too obviously. Mike Newton was as corny as a Disney movie. On the other hand, I couldn't blame Bella for going after someone safe. That had been my reasoning for being interested I her.

"So, you like Mike?" I asked tentatively, trying to keep the judgment out of my voice.

"I don't know, kind of."

"If you don't really know, maybe you just like him as friends," I suggested.

"You're probably right. I guess it is kind of nice just to get the acknowledgment. Edward has kind of seemed less interested lately."

Heat rose in my cheeks. How on Earth was I going to ever tell her that Edward's interest seemed to have shifted to me? I did the only thing I could and diverted the conversation away from Edward.

"Why did you think you couldn't tell me?"

"Well, I know you... I know you like me."

Oh shit. She had no idea about all the turmoil that had been going on in my head. I couldn't just tell her that I didn't like her like that. She was already feeling bad enough that Edward wasn't paying any attention to her. I was so screwed.

"I, well, you know, I've been thinking," I started. "I think, I think maybe we're a lot better off as friends, you know. You never seemed to want anything more than that anyway."

I couldn't read the look Bella gave me. It was true that she was never really interested in me, even when I had my completely misguided crush on her, but I couldn't help feeling like I was rejecting her a little.

"No, you're right, Jake," she said slowly. "I just, I don't know. This is weird."

"Yeah, it's definitely weird."

We both looked down at the sink of soapy water, trying to figure out what to say.

"So..." Bella broke the silence again. "You like someone else."

I swallowed hard. I couldn't tell her about Edward.

"Well, kind of, maybe. I think so."

"Oh," Bella said, before she forced a smile. "That's great. Who is it?"

"I- I don't want to say anything yet. I don't know if anything is going to come out of it. So, I'd rather not tell you and then have you tease me about it for the next 50 years."

She actually smiled a little at that. I could barely remember why I had a crush on her in the first place, even though I knew I was entertaining different thoughts a week before. We were definitely better off as friends.

She begged off to do homework after that. I didn't know if things were okay between us or not. I really didn't like keeping secrets from her, but what other choice did I have? I didn't even really know what was going on with me and Edward.

I went back into the living room to watch the end of the game. My dad looked expectantly at me and I shrugged. He seemed satisfied enough with that, but he was a lot quieter than usual on the ride home.

It gave me time to think, though. I thought about all the changes that had happened in just one week. We found out that one of the vampires had been on the reservation. I started a completely different school. The crush I thought I had on Bella disappeared, and now I was questioning my whole sexuality. Maybe I had just been using Bella as a crutch. Maybe I knew deep down that I actually liked boys, so I clung to the idea of Bella so I would feel 'normal.' Maybe going to Forks High finally put me in a situation where I was around boys who I didn't think of as family members, so I could let myself be attracted to them.

But I knew that wasn't it exactly. I wasn't checking out other boys. There was only one boy. None of the others held any interest to me. It was more like Edward had replaced every thought I'd had or could have about anyone else.

It was almost like – oh hell no – it was almost like I _imprinted_ on Edward.


	4. Phase 4

Phase 4

I had to test my theory, though it still didn't quite add up to me.

Imprinting was supposed to be the way wolves chose their mates. I couldn't exactly mate with Edward, unless he was a transsexual or something, and that, well, I didn't want to go there right now.

On Monday at school I could feel him everywhere. He wasn't in any of my classes until gym, but I swear I could tell when I was in my math class that Edward was nearby. Sure enough, when I exited the classroom, Edward emerged from the room across the hall. He caught my eye and gave me a shy smile.

My stomach did a complete 360. I had it so bad.

At lunch Edward sat next to me, and I noticed his chair was a lot closer than usual. Alice kept glancing over at us curiously, but everyone else was so caught up talking about the Cullens' party, they didn't seem to notice that we were staring at each other a lot more than usual.

When the lunch bell rang and everyone else shot out of their seats, Edward and I both hung back.

"So, do you maybe want to hang out after school or something?"

Smooth, Jacob. Real smooth.

They seemed to be the right words, though, because Edward immediately relaxed and smiled at me. His smile was a little crooked, and my stomach did another flip. It was all I could do not to lean forward and kiss that smile.

"You can come over to my house maybe?" he offered.

"Sounds great," I said.

"Good."

"So, I'll meet you outside after gym?"

"Okay," Edward's voice was kind of breathy, and I realized that I had leaned forward and there was only about a foot of space was between us.

The last warning bell rang then, breaking our moment and making us both hurry to class. I was a complete wreck for the rest of the day. I barely paid attention in any of my classes. When the geometry teacher called on me to answer a question on the board, I made a complete ass out of myself because my thoughts had been completely consumed by Edward.

I was allowed to participate in gym class again, and thank goodness we had switched to some sort of stupid fitness unit. They divided us up into two groups and I was actually grateful I wasn't put in Edward's. My group went into the weight room, so I didn't see him for the rest of the class period.

Our group finished early, so I was showered and sitting outside the boy's locker room, waiting for the final bell to ring. When Edward emerged, my heart skipped a beat. His hair was still wet from the shower and there was one renegade droplet running down his neck that I kind of wanted to lick away with my tongue.

"Hey," I said, unable to stop staring.

"Hey," he replied.

As I stood up, I couldn't help but notice that Edward was looking me up and down. I started to grin when it hit me that all of this could be because of the imprint. By Bella's account, and Edward's too, he was interested in her before I came to Forks. I wondered if he ever thought about boys before this. Was it possible that I changed his sexuality?

"Where'd you go?" Edward asked.

"Oh, I was just thinking about something. Not important. Do you just want me to follow you in my car?"

"Sure, yeah."

We walked side by side out to the parking lot. I tried to swing my arms casually, but I was trying to brush up against Edward's own swinging arm as much as possible. Every little touch of his skin on mine was electrifying.

"This is me," Edward said shakily, when we reached an old silver Volvo.

"Nice car," I managed to say.

"Yeah, right."

"No, I mean it. I have a shitty VW Rabbit. I like working on foreign cars."

"You work on cars?"

"Yeah, if you ever have a problem with this one, I offer my services."

"I'll keep that in mind."

I grinned, and then pointed to my Rabbit. "I'm just over there. I'll follow you."

Even though I had been to the Cullen's house that weekend, I was glad to have Edward to follow. The driveway was really hard to spot from the road. We parked and got out of our cars, and then Edward led me into the house. I was just there days before, but the place looked completely different during the daylight.

As we entered the house, Edward asked me if I wanted something to eat. Upon my eager affirmative, Edward laughed and turned toward the kitchen. I was startled to see a woman already there, chopping vegetables on the counter. I hadn't realized there was anyone else in the house. She was small, but had a warm, motherly quality to her, even though she looked way too young to have a son Edward's age.

"Hi boys!" she greeted us with a warm smile.

"Esme, this is my friend Jacob. Jacob, this is Esme."

The woman beamed at me like I hung the moon and then rushed over to me. She took my right hand in both of hers and gave it a squeeze.

"I'm so happy to meet you, Jacob. Edward never brings his friends over. You'll stay for dinner won't you?"

Edward shifted on his feet awkwardly.

"I'd love too," I replied.

"You don't have to if you don't want," Edward said quietly.

"Are you kidding me? It's just me and my dad. I would love to have a home-cooked meal."

Esme smiled widely at me. "Wonderful. I'll set an extra place."

"Come on, let's go to my room," Edward said.

"She seems really nice," I said as soon as she was out of earshot.

"Yeah, she and Carlisle have been really great to me."

"So, I don't know how to ask this, but did they adopt you? You call her by her first name."

"Yeah, the adoption papers just went through last year. I was their foster kid for six years before that. I never got used to calling them anything else."

"Can I ask what happened to your real parents?"

"They died when I was really young."

"I'm sorry, Edward."

"I barely remember them," he said with a shrug. "I mean, I wish I could remember them a lot more, but I was so little when it happened, Carlisle and Esme are really the only people who have ever felt like parents to me."

"I can understand that," I said.

Edward must have sensed something in my voice, because he turned to me questioningly.

"My mom died when I was young, too. I only have a few clear memories of her. I've gotten so used to my dad being my only parent, that sometimes I feel really bad that I'm not honoring my mom's memory enough."

"I'm really sorry about your mom."

"Me too. But I have two older sisters and my dad, so I've never felt like I didn't have a family."

"I didn't until Carlisle and Esme took me in."

"Were you in other foster homes?"

"Yeah. It wasn't awful. I know a lot of kids who have had really bad experiences. Both Jasper and Alice could tell you the most horrible things." He shuddered. "I just felt like no one really wanted me, like I was always in the way until Carlisle and Esme."

Every instinct in my body was telling me to grab onto Edward and hold onto him. I wanted to make him feel more wanted than anyone who had ever felt wanted. It was such a strong feeling, if there was any doubt before, I knew that Edward was my imprint.

Silence fell over us, but it wasn't awkward. I just followed Edward, until he stopped in front of a door at the end of the hallway.

"This is my room," he said, before pushing the door open.

I gasped a little as I walked in. The room itself was probably twice the size of mine, but nearly every surface was covered in books and CDs. I didn't know people still used CDs, but Edward had an impressive collection. An entire wall was taken up by shelving. There was a desk on the wall by the door, and a big bed, big enough for two grown teenage boys, sat against the third wall. The fourth wall was composed entirely of windows.

"Whoa," I finally managed to say.

"Yeah, sometimes I can't believe I live here."

I walked over to the wall of windows and looked out at the forest. My mind couldn't help but drift, wondering if there were any vampires lurking in its depths. I turned to Edward, feeling a surge of protectiveness. I was going to have to ask Sam if we could extend our patrolling out to the Cullen's land. Of course, that meant I'd have to explain why. I wasn't entirely sure I was ready for that yet. I didn't even really know where I stood with Edward.

Edward was looking at me with an odd expression, and I realized that I had been staring at him. So I cleared my throat.

"Have you read all of these?"

He laughed in response and my heart skipped a beat at the sound.

"Maybe about half of them."

"That's still impressive," I said, unable to keep the genuine amazement out of my voice. "It would probably take me 50 years to read all these books."

He blushed and sat down on his bed.

"Well, the bottom row is basically all mangas," Edward said like he was trying to downplay his prowess. "But growing up, I was alone so much of the time, my books kept me company. I always used to do chores and odd jobs to earn money to buy them. When Carlisle and Esme took me in, as soon as they found out how much I liked to read, they started spoiling me."

"I'm really glad they took you in."

"Me too," Edward said, looking up at me.

My breath hitched at what his voice implied. I went over and sat down beside him on the edge of the bed. My leg brushed his and the same shock of electricity that I felt at all of our casual touches coursed through my body.

"Wha- what's going on between us?" Edward asked, and I knew he felt it too.

"I don't know," I started, but I cut myself off. It wasn't true. I had a very good idea of what was going on, it just didn't make any sense to me and I wasn't quite sure I wanted to believe it. Plus, it wasn't like I could just say to Edward, _By the way I'm a wolf and I've imprinted on you, so I think that means we've basically mated for life_. Not the best way to get a guy to like you.

"What is it? There's something you're not telling me."

I sighed. I didn't know how to handle this at all. Part of me wanted to tell him everything then and there, but another part of me wanted to test the waters a little. I was still getting used to the idea that I was attracted to a guy. Couldn't I figure that out before having to confess that I wasn't completely human and the non-human part of me wanted to mate with him?

"There is something I can't tell you, but only because it has to do with my tribe and I don't want to get in trouble." I bit my lip, waiting for Edward's reaction.

Edward studied me like he was trying to figure out if I was telling the truth.

"What I can tell you is that I like you. A lot. And it scares me," I added.

A slow smile flickered on Edward's face before he said, "I like you a lot, too."

My first kiss had actually been Leah. It happened a long time ago at a party. We didn't do it because we really liked each other. We just did it because everyone else was kissing and it seemed like the thing to do. I didn't enjoy it at all. It was wet and awkward. Of course, now I knew that might have been because I didn't really even like girls. Anyway, none of that mattered now. This was going to be my first real kiss, with someone who liked me and I liked back.

We both leaned forward, like a movie cliché unfolding. He started tilting his head to the right, so I did the same. Then our lips met and my entire body was screaming 'yes.'

Edward's hand came up to the back of my neck, and his fingers tugged on my hair, holding me in place. I opened my lips and then his tongue filled my mouth. I pressed my tongue against his, forcing him to part his lips wider. His mouth and his tongue were hot and perfect. A warmth started in my stomach and began spreading to every inch of my body.

It was like an overwhelming feeling of rightness swept over me. I knew I was exactly where I belonged. I didn't even feel that when with the pack when we had all phased. I didn't feel that even when my mom was still alive and our whole family was together. They paled in comparison to how Edward made me feel. It was like everything else tying me to the world disappeared, and there was only Edward.

We both pulled back after a minute. I exhaled hard. My heart was pounding in my chest, and with my extra sensitive hearing, I could hear Edward's doing the same. We sat staring at each other, overwhelmed for a solid minute, before I had to break the spell.

"Can I ask you something else potentially awkward?"

"Okay," Edward agreed. "But I reserve the right not to answer."

"Fair enough. I guess I just wanted to know if you were, well, gay. I mean, you liked Bella."

Edward didn't say anything right away and I wondered if I said something wrong.

"I-" he started. "Wow. I've never really talked about this to anyone before. Though I think Alice has suspected it for awhile."

"So, you are then?" I prodded.

"Well, honestly I didn't really know. I've always kind of kept to myself. I never wanted to date girls or guys, so I thought there was something wrong with me. I looked up some things on the internet, and thought maybe I was asexual for awhile. But it wasn't like I didn't like the idea of sex, it was always just kind of a fuzzy feeling I couldn't really picture, you know?"

I nodded. It actually made a lot of sense. I tried to think of girls when I jerked off sometimes, but usually what got me off was just the feeling, not anything else.

"And Bella was the first person to ever seem interested in me."

"But you're so gorgeous," I blurted out.

This time, Edward's face turned bright red.

"I'm sorry," I said, kind of mortified I let it slip out like that. "Go on."

"Right. So, yeah, I was flattered by Bella's attention, and she's a great person, so I thought maybe I was just, I don't know, a late bloomer or something. But then something changed."

"What changed?" I asked, bracing myself, even though I had a horrible feeling that it was my fucked up ancestry, forcing myself on him, that turned his world upside down.

"Well, last week I was sitting in my car, listening to music before school started, and I saw you walking through the parking lot."

His voice had gone down to a whisper, and I could tell he was nervous, so I grabbed his hand and laced my fingers through his. That touch alone made it hard for me to concentrate on his voice, but I could hear his hammering heart settle down.

"You noticed me?" I squeaked out.

"I- well, you're hot. You're really hot, and I- I reacted to you in a way I never did to Bella. Or to any girl. I guess I just never thought I might be gay, but when I thought about it, it kind of made sense. I've always kind of been more interested in male characters than female characters in books and stuff, you know? And then I saw you in gym class, and when you got hit in the head I really freaked out. I didn't even know you and I was so worried about you."

I was flushed in embarrassment, but I couldn't keep the grin off my face. That meant that Edward was attracted to me before I imprinted on him. I didn't convert him with some supernatural fuckery. He would have wanted me regardless.

Words escaped me, so I did the only thing that made sense and leaned over to kiss Edward again. It was just as good as the first kiss. Only this time I was a lot less nervous. I gripped the front of Edward's shirt and pulled him toward me. I wanted to sink into him, meld with him until we were one being instead of two. The pull was so overwhelming, I could feel tears starting to rise in my eyes. It was his lips that reached mine first, and I let myself be carried away. For minutes there was only the sound of our lips and tongues meeting, and soft moans that would escape. I thought I could probably kiss Edward forever, but there was still one more thing bothering me, so I forced myself to pull back again.

"Wait," I said desperately. Edward stared at me as if I were crazy to stop kissing him, and I probably was but there was something I wanted to know. "If you liked me, why did you disappear at the hospital?"

Edward look surprised. "You noticed?"

"Of course I noticed."

Edward smirked at me before responding. "Well, I was kind of afraid of making an idiot of myself, so after I found Carlisle, I hung around at the nurse's station. As soon as the nurses get a hold of me, it's hard to get them off."

I think I might have growled a little. It was involuntarily, the spike of jealousy I felt was primal.

"Not that way!" Edward laughed. "They've known me since we moved here. Over-invested in my life and all that."

"Uh huh," I said, not amused.

"You're kind of hot when you're jealous," Edward said, his voice so husky I completely forgot what I was even jealous of.

We made out until Esme's voice floated up the stairs, calling us down to dinner. It took us both a good five minutes to straighten ourselves out. Just when I thought I calmed myself down, I glanced over at Edward adjusting himself, and I was back where I started, trying to will my arousal away again. We met Alice on the stairs as we headed down to the kitchen. She raised an eyebrow at us both, but said nothing.

Dinner with the Cullens was kind of bizarre. All five kids sat around the table with Dr. and Mrs. Cullen, talking about school and work. Mrs. Cullen included me in the discussion as much as possible, asking about my day along with everyone else's, showing concern when I pulled a face about my trig test. Eventually, the conversation shifted away from school and more toward my background. Dr. Cullen seemed fascinated by life on the Rez and started throwing question after question at me about Quileute history until Esme finally interrupted and told him to let me eat.

"I've always been interested in anthropology," Carlisle said with a smile that resembled Edward's so much, I wondered if there was some way they could possibly be related.

"I'm happy to talk about it," I insisted.

"Well, I hope you start spending more time over here then."

The way Edward beamed over at me made my heart leap in my chest.

The whole experience made me wonder if this was how dinners would have gone had my mom still been alive and before my sisters moved out. As it was, my dad and I usually didn't eat the same thing or at the same time, and when we did, we sat in front of the TV in the living room. I knew my dad loved me, but there were some things that it would have been nice to have my mom around for.

I had to leave right after dinner. I told Edward I had homework, which was partly true, but it was mostly because we had a pack meeting that night I couldn't get out of. It was a big deal. We were taking a risk by stopping all patrolling for an hour or two, but Sam really wanted to talk to all of us at once.

I headed to Sam and Emily's house straight from the Cullen's. When Emily opened the door, I gasped. Her face was swollen and covered in horrible scrapes that looked like she had been attacked by a wild animal. For a second, I wondered if this wasn't some weird vampire attack, until I realized that the scrapes looked like they were made by a giant claw.

"He didn't mean to phase..." she said immediately after she saw the wheels in my head turning.

"What happened?" I asked grimly.

"He was so worried about everything, the stress just got to him. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He feels so terrible about it. Don't say anything."

"Sure, sure," I said.

But it got me thinking. I remembered when I first phased and how it felt to completely give into something that was unlike every human feeling I'd ever had. It was partly a feeling of being in tune with the earth, but there was also something appealing about turning into an animal, letting go of everything but basic, primal needs. I could totally get how Sam could have snapped in an instant.

It was obvious that Sam felt horribly guilty. The way he looked at Emily made me feel like I was being punched in the gut, I could only imagine what Sam was going through. Since no one else had imprinted, they had no idea how wrecked he must have been. I didn't think I would be able to live with myself if I did something to hurt Edward.

Somehow Sam managed to stop doting on Emily and got the meeting started.

"After talking to the Council, the only thing they've been able to piece together from our reports is that there is a large group of vampires gathering in Seattle. Thanks to Jacob tracking her scent, we know the red-head has something to do with them."

"What are we supposed to do about a whole pack of bloodsuckers?" Jared murmured the obvious question. "We've had a hard enough time just tracking the red-head."

"These leeches seemed different, though. The red-head could pass for a human. They were more like animals," I broke in. "They were eating people."

I had to swallow hard against the rising bile.

I had already told Jared and Sam this, but everyone else was staring at me with wide eyes. We were all kind of brash and cocky, but in that moment it seemed to sink in that this was real. The fire was one thing but if the red-head set these vampires loose on us, they could kill us.

"You saw them kill someone?" Seth asked quietly. His face had gone a little ashy.

I was dreading tomorrow's patrol. There was no way I could keep the images of the vampires feeding on the cab driver to myself. I didn't really want to inflict that on anyone else.

"Well, I think he, well it could have been a woman, was already dead, but yeah, there was a lot of blood."

In my wolf form it hadn't bothered me as much as it had after I phased back.

"They were all fighting over it. Like you guys do with Emily's blueberry muffins."

I tried to lighten the mood. Leah snorted in response, but everyone still looked pretty somber.

Sam cleared his throat, forcing us back to business.

"I did some research into vampire legends, and I think they are freshly turned. Apparently when vampires are first turned, they are at their strongest, but they also have the least control over whatever part of them is still human."

"That could explain it," I murmured.

"Since her scent was all over the scene, it seems reasonable to think the female is in charge of the whole thing."

"So why don't we just go after her, then?" Paul said angrily.

"We didn't get a solid count on the other other vampires that she is very likely training to come after us," Sam said calmly. "If we kill her, we don't know how that will set them off. Plus, we don't want to get into this in the middle of Seattle. It would be much better to confront her on our turf."

"We should just lure them all out here and be done with it!"

"Don't be reckless, Paul," Sam growled. "There are more of them than us. There wasn't a lot of information, but I found a few things that said newborn vampires were stronger than older vampires. We don't know if we can defeat them."

"But if we wait, then she'll just keep making more. She could be building an army that could overpower us like sitting ducks!"

I saw a few of the other guys, Collin, Brady and Embry, nodding their heads in agreement, though no one but Paul actually had the nerve to stand up to Sam.

"I don't know," I threw in. "They didn't seem very organized. You didn't see the way they were fighting over the man. It seemed like they would just as soon kill each other to get a piece of it. They're dangerous, but I don't think they're very smart."

"That's a good point, Jake," Sam said. "If we're going to defeat the red-head, we need more information about these newborn vampires, and we need to be smart about battle plans. And, well, there's one more factor that we need to consider."

"What's that?" Paul asked. His arms were crossed over his chest, but he had sufficiently backed down. He was just frustrated. We all were, but Paul was the one who seemed the closest to losing it.

"When we were in Seattle, Seth and I also stumbled upon two other vampires."

A collective gasp went up in the room from everyone except me and Seth.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Collin cried out.

"I wanted counsel before one of you knuckleheads did something stupid," Sam said with a pointed glared a Paul.

Paul just rolled his eyes and then said, "We've been patrolling for two nights and you didn't think we should know?"

"The nature of the situation made it less urgent," Sam said calmly. I knew he was hoping that if he stayed calm, Paul would too.

"And just what was it that made 'less urgent'?" Paul said haughtily.

"Because they saw us and didn't do anything!" Seth broke in.

"What?" Paul actually looked taken aback.

"Go ahead," Sam gestured to Seth to continue. I understood why he did it. It would be more believable from someone like Seth.

Seth went on to explain to them what Sam told me, adding in few more details.

"We saw them sitting together on a park bench, and they were arguing about something. From what I could hear, it was something about a woman that one of them didn't trust. It was that one who turned and stared right at us. He sniffed the air and obviously could tell we weren't human. But the weird part was that he just nodded. Politely even. He didn't threaten us or follow us or anything."

Everyone stared at Seth, trying to process this bizarre piece of information. I'd had a little bit of time to think about it, but it was still hard for me to believe that these creatures, our enemies, could look at us with anything but hostility.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Jared finally asked quietly.

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to the Council about, to ask if there was ever any sort of alliance between us and the cold ones. Obviously one of them knows the red-head, we saw him on our grounds. But they were clearly arguing about something and they agreed "not to trust her." We don't know if they were talking about the red-head, but it seems likely."

"So we're supposed to make friends with them?" Leah asked with a snort.

"Of course not," Sam said, although his voice was flat. "But the situation might be different than we thought. It's possible, don't you think, that maybe not all vampires are hell bent on destroying us?"

"They're the enemy," Paul said coldly.

"All I'm asking is that you keep an open mind. If we're going to destroy the red-head, we're going to need help. Even if it comes from another leech, I'm willing to give it a shot if the leech doesn't mean us any harm. If you don't like it, bring your complaints to me individually. We need to get patrol out and some of you have school tomorrow, so consider this meeting adjourned."

There was a lot of grumbling as everyone got up. Embry and Leah were set to patrol so they left immediately. Collin and Brady were congregating around Paul, and I knew they were probably complaining about Sam's caution.

Quil looked thoughtful as he left to go home. I was going to have to talk to him about what he thought about everything. Jared was pestering Seth with questions about the two vampires he and Sam had seen.

This was as good of an opportunity as I was going to get, so I went up to Sam.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"It's getting late, Jacob. Can it wait?"

"It's not about the vampires," I said softly. "It's more... personal."

Sam studied me for a second before nodding. "Let's go into the kitchen."

Emily was pulling a sheet of cookies out of the oven when we walked in. We were lucky she liked to bake so much.

Sam smiled at her before he told her that we needed privacy.

"Help yourself to the cookies, Jake," she told me before she dropped a kiss on Sam's cheek and left the room.

I couldn't help but notice the goofy grin on Sam's face as his eyes followed her out the door. I wondered if that's how I looked around Edward. It didn't seem like anyone really noticed something was going on between me and Edward yet, other than the weird looks Alice kept giving us. But if I looked at Edward the way Sam looked at Emily, I wouldn't be able to hide it much longer.

I grabbed a cookie out of the jar on the table and took a huge bite, biding my time a little. Sam waited for me to swallow before he gave a look that said "out with it."

I took a deep breath and then blurted it out, "I think I imprinted."

Sam's eyes widened at first, but then he shook his head, "You would know for sure if you imprinted."

"Well, what if something interrupted me?"

"If you really imprinted, you wouldn't have been able to be distracted."

"I was knocked unconscious!"

"Wait, what?"

I played with a thread sticking out of the table cloth for a few seconds before explaining.

"I saw hi- my imprint, and I had complete tunnel vision. It was like nothing else mattered in the world, so much so that I didn't notice the volleyball hurtling toward the back of my head."

"Why haven't you said anything!"

Sam suddenly looked pissed.

I didn't say anything in response.

Sam narrowed his eyes at me.

"Because it doesn't make sense," I said finally. "My imprint makes no sense."

"Your imprint is essentially chosen for you. What's not to make sense?"

I figured Sam would be the most understanding out of anyone in the pack. I knew how guilty he felt for imprinting on his girlfriend's cousin, but this was different.

"You have to promise not to make fun of me. Or let the rest of the pack give me a hard time."

"What? Why? Who is it?"

"Promise first."

"Jacob," he warned.

"It's Edward Cullen," I blurted out.

Sam's eyes grew wide and his mouth formed a perfect 'o.'

"You're gay?"

"I didn't think so, but I think maybe I had some tendencies that way. Plus..."

"Plus you imprinted on a guy," he finished.

I finally was able to lift my head up enough to meet his eyes and nod.

He was on his feet, pacing back and forth across the kitchen.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"That's what I told you!"

"And you're positive you imprinted on him?"

"It drives me crazy being away from him. He's- he's-" I couldn't explain it. Winter break was coming up. The other day at lunch he mentioned he was going to be in Chicago for a week, and I grew antsy just thinking about being away from him.

I felt Sam's hand on my shoulder as if to calm me down.

"I know, Jake," was all he said. His eyes were sympathetic, and I knew then that he believed me.

"I really like him. I think, maybe, I think I love him," I whispered. "And I've only known him for a week."

"But that's a good thing, Jake. That reaffirms it was the right choice."

"But I'm only 16!"

"So, it's your mate. He's the person who is best suited for you. It doesn't matter if you met him now or ten years from now. It was always going to be him."

"It's just a lot to get used to."

"I'll tell the pack, if you don't want to."

"Thanks," I said gratefully. "I think- I think that would be easier, but Sam? How am I going to tell Edward?"

Sam furrowed his brow. "I never really thought about the possibility of imprinting outside the tribe. I assume you wouldn't imprint on someone who wouldn't keep your secret, but I don't really know what to tell you right now. Maybe you could hold off on it for a little while and let me ask the Elders about it?"

"That I can do," I said, relieved that Sam hadn't recommended I just be completely upfront about it. I knew eventually I would have to tell Edward, but I was hoping for someone to help me figure out how.

I went home feeling a little better about everything. It was still hard to wrap my head around the fact that Edward was my soulmate.

I didn't know how to act around Edward at school the next day.

I think he thought it was because of the kisses, and it was partly that. I wanted to tell him about the imprint, but I didn't want to freak him out. What if he rejected me because of it? Was that possible? Would he just take it in stride?

He caught me staring at him more than once. Every time he would blush, which made me blush. Then at lunch, his hand kept brushing against mine under the table. Alice kept giving us funny looks. It was all kind of silly. We were probably too old to be thrilled with such a simple touch, but everything was still new.

Gym class was torture. Edward changing into his gym clothes was one thing, but then Edward got sweaty from lifting weights and wet from showering. It was too much. I took longer than usual to shower, turning the water ice cold to will my dick down. I was still getting dressed when the final bell rang.

When I walked out of the locker room, Edward was waiting for me. He was leaning against the wall casually like he was a model. I couldn't help myself, and looked him up and down with absolutely zero subtlety. Edward noticed and blushed deeply.

"Sorry," I said with a shrug as I approached him. "You're hot."

"Er, thanks," he squeaked out. "You- you look really good in gym shorts."

As soon as he said it, his hand flew up to his mouth, and he turned even redder than he was before.

"I don't know how I'm going to make it through the rest of the semester knowing you're getting naked on the other side of the locker room," I admitted, feeling my own cheeks heating.

We walked out of the building together.

"Can you come over?" Edward asked, breaking the slightly awkward silence.

"Sorry." My disappointment was obvious. "I promised my dad I'd clean out the gutters. This might be the last warm day of the year."

"Okay. Tomorrow then?"

"Definitely."

He grinned at me and it was like everything was suddenly right with the world.

I smiled back, and then he grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me around the corner of the gym. I was completely taken off guard as he pushed me gently into the brick wall. Then he leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine. My body practically sang with pleasure. I couldn't stop myself from grabbing Edward's hips and pulling him into me. Edward groaned at the contact and I took the opportunity to push my tongue into his mouth.

The sound of a gasp shattered the moment.

There stood Bella, with her mouth hanging open.


	5. Phase 5

Phase 5

Bella wouldn't answer my phone calls that night.

At school the next day, she didn't talk to me. The tension between us was so high I sat at a different lunch table because I didn't want to deal with it. Of course, Edward noticed immediately I wasn't at the table and came to sit with me. That wasn't going to win me any points with Bella, but I couldn't help but be really happy he chose me over his friends.

"She'll come around."

"The thing is, I'm not quite sure why she's mad at me. Is it because I was kissing _you_? Or because I was kissing, you know, another guy?"

Edward bit his lip and looked thoughtful.

"Bella's not homophobic. I just can't believe she would be," he finally said quietly.

"I just didn't know how to tell her," I whispered.

"Well that makes two of us," Edward said. "I kind of led her on, even when I was pretty sure I was gay."

"I think she'll forgive you a lot easier than she'll forgive me. I've known her since before I can even remember."

I had been feeling horrible since I started keeping the whole wolf thing a secret from her. When Sam gave an order, we had to follow it, but I could have at least told her I had feelings for Edward. I was such an idiot. I wasn't protecting her feelings by not telling her. It would have come out eventually anyway.

Looking into Edward's sad expression made me feel even worse. We both felt awful about keeping secrets from Bella, but here I had a secret that would affect his entire life, and I had no idea how to tell him.

I shoved my food around on my plate.

"I've never seen you not eat before," Edward said, obviously trying to change the subject.

I couldn't help it, hearing the affection in Edward's voice made it impossible to feel completely rotten, so I smiled up at him.

"I'm sure my appetite will make a rapid recovery. I think your slice of chocolate cake might be just the thing it needs."

I reached across the table and stabbed at his dessert. I shoved a huge bite of the cake into my mouth. As I chewed I could feel Edward's gaze on me, and when I looked up, his eyes were trained on my mouth. His stare was so intense, I could feel my cheeks flush with embarrassment. Thank goodness I didn't have Edward's pale skin.

"Edward," I said, snapping my fingers in front of his face.

"Sorry," he squeaked out. "I know we're supposed to feel bad about hiding this from Bella and all, but I can't be this close to you and not get... distracted."

I closed my eyes, trying to will my dick into submission. It was rough being so close to Edward and not be touching him. What I really wanted to do was jump across the table, pin him to the ground and kiss him until my lips were numb. Though, in all honesty, I would have settled for holding his hand.

I swallowed hard before asking, "So what do we do? Do you want people to know?"

"I don't know," he said with a sigh. "Part of me really wants to. Really, really wants to. Especially when I see the way Lauren Mallory looks at you during gym class."

I had never noticed Lauren looking. She was probably considered one of the hottest girls in school, but I had met her before the whole imprinting thing and was never really impressed.

"How could I not have known I was gay?" I muttered under my breath.

Edward laughed.

"You have nothing to worry about, you know," I said earnestly.

"I- I think I get that," he replied with an odd look on his face.

"But you still aren't ready for people to know," I prompted him.

"I'm really sorry. I just- I don't know. Being the weird foster kid, I guess it has kind of made me not want to stand out for anything else. If we come out, we'll get a lot of attention. I don't think I can handle it."

"I get it," I said, looking around the cafeteria. Even though I knew I could stand up to anyone here, I didn't want Edward to feel unsafe or anything. Plus, there was always the risk that I would phase if there ever was a confrontation, and that would invite a whole world of problems on the pack.

"Plus," I added with a wink. "I kind of like the idea of sneaking around."

"I'm probably going to give us away by jumping on you if you keep looking at me like that," Edward confessed.

I grinned at him and then did a quick survey of the cafeteria. I wondered if we were being obvious anyway.

"I should probably tell you that some of my tribe members kind of know. It's, well, it's hard to keep things secret. I hope that's okay. They won't say anything."

"Well, Alice knows, too. She confronted me about it after you left on Monday. She won't say anything either. She said she wouldn't even tell Jasper until I was ready, which is crazy, because she tells Jasper everything."

"And I doubt Bella will say anything," I said sadly. "Even though she hates me, she wouldn't out either of us."

"She doesn't hate you," Edward tried to reassure me.

The next two weeks were at the same time the best I ever had and the worst.

Bella still wasn't talking to me, I had to study for all the tests that teachers decided to pile on us before winter break, and we were still doing intense tracking missions on the red-head and her band of newborns. But the light at the end of the tunnel of every school day was Edward.

We couldn't get enough of each other. Making out soon became inadequate. The first time Edward climbed on top of me and pressed his hard on against mine, I almost came on the spot. It was everything I didn't realize I was missing.

We spent almost every afternoon together on days I didn't have to patrol. We were supposed to be studying for exams, but I couldn't be alone with Edward for more than five minutes without needing to touch him.

Both of us were careful not to leave marks on each others necks to avoid questions at school, but my chest was always spotted from Edward's kisses. He was obsessed with my chest, which was fine by me. One time he got me off just from licking and biting my nipples and letting me dry-hump his leg. It was kind of embarrassing, but it became less so when I reached down Edward's pants and got him off with three pumps of my fist.

The feeling of Edward's long fingers wrapped around my cock was the only thing that felt better than his tongue laving around my nipples. We jerked each other off so much that I felt like I knew his dick better than my own. One afternoon, Edward miraculously had the whole house to himself and my balls physically hurt by the time I got home because of the number of times we got off.

At first, the pack acted a little weird toward me after Sam told them all about my imprint. Quil and Embry both came over as soon as they found out and chastised me for not telling them I was gay or that I had imprinted. They both understood when I told them how confused I was by the whole thing. And they only seemed a little bit wigged out by the gay thing, but I think that was because there just weren't really any gay people in our tribe. I mean, there was the two-spirit who took on the traditional roles of both men and women, but there wasn't a lot of gay sex happening. At least, not that I knew of. Neither Quil nor Embry were actually all that surprised by it really, and I didn't think either of them would treat me any different because of it.

"It kind of makes sense," Quil had said. "You _never_ talked about girls."

"What about Bella?" I had pushed, trying to justify my confusion.

"Dude, you always talk about her the way you talk about your sisters."

When I thought about it, he was exactly right. Before Edward came along, I really just wanted to want Bella.

Even though Quil and Embry were my closest friends, it was Seth who acted the least affected by it. He didn't question me or treat me any differently than he usually did. I was the one who had to bring it up one morning on the drive into school. I point blank asked him if me being with Edward bothered him.

"Why would it bother me?" he had asked, completely incredulous. "You're still Jake."

Everyone else seemed a little distant, though. It was like they didn't know what to say to me anymore, and I felt like they were all sort of starting to cut me out. I found out that they all started hanging out at Sam and Emily's house when they used to come over to mine. They had new inside jokes I wasn't a part of. They were even planning a bonfire on the last Friday after classes got out that I found out about only by accident.

I was patrolling with Paul one night when I finally had enough.

"What the fuck is everyone's problem? I didn't realize you were all a bunch of bigots!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Ever since you found out about me and Edward, I've become an outcast!"

"Dude, that has nothing to do with anything!"

"How could it not? You're all straight!"

"Look, we're jealous, all right?"

That stopped me in my tracks.

"Jealous?"

"That you imprinted, that you're getting laid, that you're really fucking happy all the time. Sam felt so bad when he imprinted that he sort of kept it to himself. We didn't know it could be so intense like it is with you."

"But- but," I sputtered. "That still doesn't make sense why you've all basically stopped talking to me."

"Are you sure that's our fault? You're never around anymore!"

When I thought about it, I guess I had been spending a lot of time with Edward. Okay, fine, I was spending every waking moment I could manage with Edward.

After my talk with Paul, I made Edward come over to my house. I was really nervous at first. The Cullens lived in this extravagant house, and even though Edward didn't grow up with it, I was afraid he would be sort of put off by our little house. Of course, that was nothing compared to how freaked out I was about him meeting the pack. I figured I would introduce them in small groups first. Edward already knew Seth, Leah and Quil from school, and I figured that it was safe to introduce him to Embry and Jared. Of course, Paul decided that he needed to come over to meet Edward too. That meant Collin and Brady tagged along. So when Edward came over, everyone but Leah, who was completely unimpressed by Edward, and Quil and Sam, who were on patrol, were crowded into my dad's house.

We had to keep quiet about all the pack stuff and I made everyone put on shirts so Edward wouldn't get weirded out. It was obvious that Edward was completely overwhelmed as soon as he stepped in the door. Then Paul started teasing us about topping and bottoming. I thought Edward was probably going to run out of the house and never come back, but he didn't miss a beat.

As soon as Paul got done talking, Edward just looked at him curiously and asked, "How is it that you know so much about gay sex?"

That kind of broke the ice, and everyone relaxed and seemed to get along okay. After they figured out how quick-witted Edward was, they decided to turn all of their teasing on me instead of the two of us. Edward joined in a little, especially when Brady started ribbing me about my hair. I was growing it out a little, mostly because it felt good to have Edward's fingers run through it.

"You really could be in a shampoo commercial," Edward had agreed.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest and turning away from Edward.

I wasn't really upset by any of it. I grew up with two older sisters, and they were way worse. But I could tell Edward felt bad, even if no one else did, and he stopped after that, diverting everyone's attention to the fact that Paul had abnormally small and really girlie hands.

Eventually everyone left except Seth and Embry, and the four of us ended up playing Xbox until Edward's curfew.

After that, I felt less awkward around everyone, but I quickly became the least wanted to patrol with because I started to guard my thoughts less. It made Leah happy, but everyone else was irritated. I couldn't help it, I was always thinking about Edward, specifically sex with Edward. Every one of the pack probably knew what Edward's cock looked like in detail. But it was like it was completely beyond my control.

"Just wait until you imprint," I told Embry after he threatened to push me off the cliffs in lieu of the cold shower he insisted I needed.

"Sam wasn't like this after he imprinted. You're just a horndog."

"Can I help it I have a really hot boyfriend who can't keep his hands off me?"

Embry just looked at me, completely unimpressed.

I made a mental note to give him a hard time when he imprinted.

Edward came over to my house a couple more times, but I still spent almost every day at the Cullen's house. It was pretty clear Esme figured out that Edward and I were more than friends. I'm pretty sure Carlisle knew, too. And Edward was right, I think Alice knew all along, but if the other Cullens hadn't figured it out, they did when Emmett barged into Edward's room one afternoon when Edward was straddling my lap with my hands gripping his ass.

"Well, hell!" Emmett had boomed. "Little Eddie's all grown up!"

None of them seemed surprised Edward was with me. I had dinner with them that night. Emmett insisted on toasting his water glass to us now that Edward was "finally getting some." Of course, Edward blushed furiously. Esme scolded Emmett for being so crass. Jasper just high-fived Edward and me across the table. Rosalie was completely unaffected. Alice and Carlisle both just shared a knowing smile.

I was really starting to feel at home with the Cullens, not just with Edward.

Emmett, when he wasn't teasing me, tried to convince me to try out for the track team in the spring. He was all-state at shotput and seemed to want someone to follow in his footsteps after he graduated. I told him I'd consider it. I wasn't sure it would quite be fair of me to compete against other kids who didn't have weird supernatural abilities, but the Rez school didn't have sports teams and I always felt like I was missing out.

Jasper was kind of shy at first, but I was around so much that we were pretty much forced to interact. Alice seemed intent on becoming as close to me as she was to Edward, and along with Alice came Jasper. Alice reminded me a lot of my sister Rebecca, so it wasn't hard for us to get along, and once Jasper opened up, we had a lot in common. He was more outdoorsy than Edward and liked things like camping and hiking and fishing. I promised to take him along on one of my dad and Charlie's famous fishing excursions and he seemed really excited about it.

Carlisle was great, too. I found out that he wasn't just interested in anthropology as a hobby; he actually had a Master's degree in it and did his thesis on the Salish tribes around Puget Sound and the Lushootseed language that was rapidly dying out. He seemed to know a lot about Quileute history too. When he mentioned something about spirit animals, I started to get uncomfortable, but luckily his pager went off and he couldn't ask me anything else about it. I didn't know how I was going to tell Edward, but I definitely didn't want Carlisle figuring it out.

Soon all my tests were over and my projects turned in and I was looking at two whole weeks of vacation. I should have been happy about it, but the only thing I could focus on was the fact that Edward was going to be out of town for the first week of vacation. It was more than just missing his company, I physically needed to be near Edward. We had only just started, well, we weren't exactly dating officially. I figured I should probably ask him to go out on a real date when he got back. I needed some kind of commitment from him or I thought I might literally go crazy if I ever had to be away from him for any length of time.

I didn't want to be clingy, so I managed to wait about a day before I called Edward. I had already damn near paced a hole in the carpet of my bedroom. Hearing his voice calmed me down immediately, but I still missed him like crazy. When he told me that he wished I was there with him, I was fairly certain my heart stuttered. It was sappy and disgustingly sweet, but his reassurance made me feel about a million times better.

Unfortunately, I had other things to worry about on top of missing Edward. I was so wrapped up in my bubble with school and integrating myself into Edward's life and him into the parts of mine I could share with him, that it had been easy to forget about the red-head and her little blood-sucking army.

On the second day of winter break, Sam decided that we had to do another tracking mission. We all had free time now and everyone else was sort of on edge that we hadn't seen any signs of the red-head for weeks. Instead of all of us going to Seattle, we decided to cover more ground and split up. We were looking for signs of her movement out of the city, but more particularly to see if we could catch the scent of any other vampires, especially the ones I had seen in the warehouse.

I went with Sam toward Port Angeles which involved a lot of tracking through the woods. We tried to be as thorough as possible, being careful not to let the wind interfere with blowing away any scents. We had been at it for about three hours finding absolutely nothing until something unfamiliar caught my nose.

_Sam._

I heard Sam approaching behind me. When I looked over my shoulder I could see him sniffing the air.

_This is familiar. It's disgustingly sweet but kind of musty._

_This way._

He let me go first as I tracked the scent. It was leading us up a hill. The ground under my paws was getting softer. The forest was covered in fallen leaves that were almost impossible not to crunch under our weight, but it started to give way to grass. As the trees started to thin out, I realized that we were approaching a clearing. I slowed down a little and got low to the ground. With fewer trees, it would be difficult to stand and stay hidden. Sam scooted up beside me.

_Ready?_

_Sure, sure._ Although I knew he could sense the spike of fear that shot through me.

When we crested the hill, I stopped, frozen in my tracks.

It was one of the vampires Sam had seen in Seattle, standing right out in the open with his arms up.

"Please. I don't want to harm you," he called out in an accent that was unrecognizable to me. It was clear that he could see us, and by the wrinkle of his nose, it was obvious our smell was about as pleasant to him as his was to us.

I growled.

_Wait!_ Sam shouted at me.

I had to force myself not to move forward.

"I have information for you," the blood-sucker insisted.

_What do we do?_ I asked, though I could barely hear my own thoughts over my racing heartbeat.

_We hear him out_. Sam said calmly. It was almost as if he knew that this was going to happen, but I didn't have time to ask.

The blood-sucker looked at us expectantly, so Sam and I both nodded our heads in agreement. The vampire gave a quick nod of acknowledgment back to us and then tilted his head north before turning and running. Sam and I looked at each other for a second before we both raced to follow him.

It was kind of exhilarating trailing him through the woods. Even though he meant for us to follow him, it wasn't always easy. He didn't take the path a wolf would have, given his different abilities. We followed his scent like he was leading us through an obstacle course. He took us through some of the densest groups of trees that Sam and I could barely fit between. He jumped over a gully that we barely cleared. Sometimes we would get close enough to be able to spot him in the distance, but he would always look back and then speed ahead.

He was really fucking fast.

It was clear that when we caught up to him, it was because he let us. Eventually, he started slowing down his wicked pace. His scent started to grow stronger as the trees began to thin. When we reached him, he was standing at the edge of the forest. If he took a few steps further, he'd be in a parking lot. It took me a second to realize that we were in Port Angeles at the diner my sisters used to take me to when I was a kid.

He smiled at both of us, completely unruffled after running at breakneck speed through the woods.

"I haven't had a good run like that in ages. Thank you for indulging me. Now, can we not talk to one another like men? I'm going in and I'm getting a table."

We were lucky that Sam had gotten us in the habit of carrying clothes with us. Sam and I both phased and put on the clothes we had tied to our legs. It gave us a chance to catch our breath. We had inhuman endurance levels, but we still got tired.

I felt a little self-conscious as we headed into the diner. We were both completely under-dressed in our jeans and black t-shirts in comparison to the vampire who was too stylish to look like he belonged in a diner in Port Angeles. We sat down with him just the same, ignoring the confused stares the other customers were giving us.

"My name is Laurent," the leech spoke. "There is no point in beating around the bush. I'm here because I want to help you."

"Why should we believe you?" Sam said calmly.

"Because I don't approve of what Victoria is doing."

So the red-head had a name.

"What is your relationship to her? Isn't she your kin? Your friend?" Sam was starting to lose his cool demeanor a little.

"She's no friend of mine," Laurent snapped. "My mate, James, used to know her years ago. They share a sire."

He and the other male were mates?

"Your mate is male?" I blurted out.

"Jacob," Sam warned.

I knew it was completely fucked up, but I couldn't help but feel a sudden kinship with the vampire. I didn't know any other gay people. _My mate is too_, I mouthed to Laurent.

Laurent smiled at me briefly before Sam started in again.

"What is she doing you don't approve of?"

"She is amassing an army."

Sam and I both tensed. Even though we knew it already, it was still hard to hear it confirmed.

"And why exactly is this of interest to us?" Sam asked carefully. We knew the cold ones were our enemies historically. We also knew she had been on our land more than once. Her scent had been lingering all around the site of the school after it had caught fire we just didn't recognize it until after. It was pretty clear we were some kind of target, but we had yet to determine if we were her main one.

"She is planning an attack on your pack sometime soon. I'm sorry I don't have a precise time for you."

"How do we know you aren't helping her? How do we know this isn't a trap?" Sam said immediately.

"James, he is a tracker. A very skilled one. There is no one with skills like his." The pride he felt for his mate was obvious in his voice. "He hunts the wicked – killers, rapists, the worst of the worst of humanity. I have spent my existence helping him, we abide by the motto an eye for an eye. I do not relish the thought of killing creatures like yourself who only want to protect your lands and your people."

"Why is she targeting us?"

"That, I do not know. There is no love lost between Victoria and me. I only tolerate her existence because she is friends with my mate. I do know it's personal."

Sam was quiet, as if processing the new information, so I took over.

"The vampires, her army, they seemed more like animals than humans," I said, trying to suppress a shudder.

"Vampires are never as powerful as they are when they are newborns, something about the residual human blood in their bodies makes them so. They have only one instinct, and that is blood. They are ruthless, they will stop at nothing to feed, even if it means killing their own kind. Most of us grow out of that stage. We learn to tolerate the hunger. I've heard of a coven in Alaska that hunts only animals, never human blood. James and I only feed on the blood of those who deserve their death. You must not think all of us are the same. I do know that training these newborns has been much more difficult than she anticipated."

"That's why you don't know exactly when," I supplied.

"Yes," Laurent answered, almost warmly. "She has no trust in me, but James may be able to get the information out of her."

"Thank you, Laurent," Sam said finally.

He reached his hand out across the table. Laurent looked at is curiously for a moment.

"I know you took a risk in contacting us," Sam added. "She can easily trace our meeting here today if she so chooses."

Laurent reached for Sam's hand and shook it.

"I chose my time carefully, but you are correct. I just hope I have not made things more difficult for you now."

"We will increase our patrols to be sure."

"I will be in touch," Laurent said, standing up from the table. "But I must not linger."

With that, he was gone.

This was a lot to process. Sam sat for a long time just staring at the table. When the waitress came by, I took it upon myself to order a cheeseburger. Talk of food snapped Sam out of his pondering. As we ate, we didn't talk much about it. I could tell he was debating about whether or not to trust Laurent.

For some reason, I believed Laurent without question. After seeing him navigate the woods, I had a better understanding of just how powerful real vampires were. The ones I had seen were monsters, but I had no doubt in my mind that Laurent could have killed Sam or me with relative ease, even in our wolf forms.

The range of reactions at the next pack meeting went from shock to rage. Even though everyone was skeptical of Laurent, that the red-head was building her army to plan an attack on us corroborated our evidence.

What really made everyone cautiously accepting of Laurent's information was that Collin and Jared had managed to track the scent of another vampire. They found a trail of it alongside the red-head's scent, and it didn't belong to Laurent or his mate James. She either had help, or if Laurent was right, one of the newborns was starting to come back to his humanity.

It put us all even more on edge. There was a battle looming, and it was one where we were at a distinct disadvantage.

Christmas came and went with little fanfare. We didn't celebrate Christmas, but when my mom was alive she always bought us a few gifts, just so we wouldn't feel left out from all the Christmas specials on TV and decorations that Forks covered itself in.

It was especially hard because the closer to Christmas it got, the more family obligations Edward had, and the less time he could talk to me on the phone. It was ridiculous, really, how much I was pining for him. At first it was just a feeling, like a piece of me was missing, but then it started to physically hurt. There was an ache in my chest and I was completely on edge. I woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares. By the end of the week, everyone was staying away from me.

As soon as I got the text message from Edward that read, "Just got back," I was heading out the door until my dad started yelling at me to stop.

"I have to see him, Dad."

"I know, son."

"Then why-"

"You should probably put a shirt on first."

"Oops. Thanks."

I hurried into a shirt and ran to my car. I broke every speed limit possible on my way to the Cullen's. If Charlie had pulled me over, I probably would have phased right there and ran to the Cullen's house. Miraculously, I made it there without incident. As I pulled my car into the long driveway, I could sense Edward's presence so strongly, I had to stop myself from jumping out and running in the house. I parked, grabbed my phone, and sent him a quick text instead.

_I'm in your driveway_.

I hoped Edward didn't think I was too much of a stalker. I couldn't tell him about the imprint yet, but I was completely powerless. I needed him so much. Even if I couldn't spend any time with him, I felt better just being in his proximity. He had to have felt some of the anxiety too, because I didn't have to wait 30 seconds before Edward was flying out of the house toward my car.

I stepped out just in time to catch Edward as he threw his arms around my neck. As soon as he touched me, all the tension in my back and pain in my chest went away. I could breathe again.

I leaned down and buried my nose in Edward's neck, breathing in his scent and reacquainting myself with the way his body felt pressed up against mine. It took awhile for my brain to catch up, but eventually I managed to blurt out the first thing in my head.

"You don't have a coat on."

"You'll keep me warm," he murmured before slamming his lips against mine.

Every rational thought that I had managed before flew out of my head, and the only thing on my mind was Edward and his warm tongue thrusting into my mouth.

We stood kissing outside in the Cullen's driveway until Edward started shivering and my instinct to protect him kicked in. I nearly herded him up to the house and into the kitchen with the idea in mind to get him something hot to drink.

Esme was in the kitchen and greeted me with a huge smile and a hug. She offered us both hot cocoa and I agreed readily.

As soon as Edward stopped shivering, though, I started fidgeting. I was sitting as close to Edward as I could with his mother still in the room. I scooted my stool over to his so our thighs were pressed together, but it wasn't enough to quell the overwhelming urge to kiss him to within an inch of his life.

I have no idea how I answered any of Esme's questions about how my winter break was going. Eventually she just laughed at both of us and sent us upstairs with a warning to be careful and that we weren't the only ones in the house. Normally it would have embarrassed me, but I was too worked up to care.

When we stumbled into his room, Edward damn near launched himself at me. I grabbed onto him and shoved my lips hard against his.

When we pulled apart, Edward was flushed and looked completely disoriented.

"So you missed me?" I teased.

"So much. I mean, I know it was only a week, but I couldn't stop thinking about you. That's not... weird is it?"

Suddenly Edward was shy.

I kissed the question off his lips while I walked us both backward until the backs of Edward's knees hit his bed.

"It's not weird at all. I missed you too."

He reached up and tangled his hands in my hair, shoving his tongue into my mouth. Then suddenly he was pulling me down until his back was on the bed and I had a knee on either side of his hips.

"So much," I muttered against his lips.

I wanted to hold onto him and never let go. There was no other way to describe it than as the universe righting itself again. I belonged to Edward whether he liked it or not and no one else would ever suffice. It was only after Edward pulled back that I realized I had been whispering, "no one else."

I thought it had freaked Edward out until he pressed his lips up to mine again while grabbing my ass and urging my hips down until our cocks both got some friction. That was enough for everything to shift between us, and we were tearing at each other's clothes in a way we hadn't done before. I focused on whipping my shirt off and then tugging at my jeans to get them off. We were both down to boxer briefs when I settled back on top of Edward, pressing my dick down against his.

"Oh god," Edward breathed.

When he thrust his hips up, I was already on the brink of coming. While I willed myself not to completely embarrass myself, my mind started to catch up with what was going on. This was the most naked I had ever been with Edward. I didn't think we'd go all the way with the entire Cullen family in the house, but we were obviously heading that way. I didn't think I could have sex with him if he didn't know everything about me.

"Edward, there's something I really, really need to tell you."

"Now?"

"It's important."

"Well what is it?"

"I don't know how to tell you."

"Just say it."

"I, wait, I know!" I suddenly realized how I could tell him. "Can you come to the Rez with me this Friday? We're having a little party, and I want you to hear some of our legends."

"Yes, yes, whatever you want," Edward agreed. "Can we-?"

His teeth were nipping at my neck, cutting off his question, and coherent thoughts left my head as I grabbed the waist band of his underwear.

I stopped thinking entirely. When I had thought about sucking Edward's cock, I always thought about taking my time, teasing him and trying to impress him by taking him as deep as I could. But when I saw it lying against his abdomen, hard and _right there_, any plans I had were gone.

Edward was already moaning with the first tentative lick I swiped across the tip.

"Your family is here," I scolded.

"It's just Esme, well, and Jasper and Emmett, but they're in the basement, and I'm pretty sure Esme is going out of her way not to listen to us."

I shrugged in response and wrapped my lips around the head of his cock. His moaning got even louder as I sank down further. I experimented a little, trying to work out how to lick and suck without choking and still being able to breathe in the process. I knew I was doing all right when Edward's hands tangled in my hair. As soon as I thought I got a nice rhythm going, Edward made a weird choking noise. When I started to pull off his cock to ask if he was okay, he started twitching and his cum spilled into my mouth. I tried to swallow it, but I was so startled that some of it escaped. Edward had never come that suddenly before. I looked up at him and his expression was completely dazed. He was staring at me like I hung the moon. Even though I was kind of proud of myself for making him so happy, it also made me a little embarrassed.

So while he came down from his high, I dipped down and nuzzled his balls, drinking in his musky scent. I couldn't imagine anyone else ever smelling so good to me. It was kind of wolf-like of me, but I couldn't help it. Edward's scent drove me crazy.

"Jake," Edward groaned.

"Was it okay?" I asked cockily.

He rolled his eyes at me, but then his expression grew dark.

"What-?" I started to ask.

Then he was pouncing on me, making me roll over onto my back while he descended on my very excited dick. I briefly wondered if there was anything Edward wasn't good at. In fact, I might have asked it out loud, because there was definitely a chuckling sound coming from Edward. Whatever he was doing felt incredible, though. It was hot and wet, and even though I wanted to drag out the feeling as long as I could, I couldn't hold back. It was probably only a couple minutes before I was coming hard into Edward's waiting mouth.

When he finished swallowing, he looked at me with a huge grin on his face. I wanted to tease him or at least thank him, but all I could manage to do was pull him up to me so I could kiss him.

I went back home in an orgasmic daze. I had to patrol that night, so I made an excuse about promising my dad I would be home. Edward was tired from the trip anyway and looked like he was about to nod off when I left.

As soon as I got home, I flopped down on the couch to hopefully take a nap before I had to spend the night outside on leech watch. I was just starting to dream when Embry showed up at the house. He was supposed to be preparing for the equivalency test, but his mom kept nagging him about it, so he had taken to hiding out here a lot. We started watching a movie and I was drifting off again when I heard pounding on the front door.

"Jake! Jake!"

It was Bella. I was confused for a second. I had tried for a steady two weeks to get Bella to talk to me. I sent texts, I called, I even had my dad pass along a message to her when he went over to Charlie's house. As soon as winter break started, I gave up. I figured I made it clear I wanted to talk to her, and she knew where I was. She could come to me when she was ready. The urgency in her voice made me worry that something was wrong. I got up from the couch.

"Geez, what is it Bells?" I grumbled as I swung open the door.

"I just wanted to apologize."

"A phone call would have worked," I said softly.

"You weren't answering my calls."

I took out my phone and looked at it. I had 27 missed calls. All from Bella.

"Oops," I said sheepishly. "The sound was off."

She glared at me, and I ducked my head.

"Come on in."

As Bella came in and started to take off her coat, Embry came up behind me.

"Hey man, it's your turn to-"

He stopped.

"Embry, you remember Bella..." I trailed off.

Embry had this weird look on his face, and both he and Bella were frozen in place.

Shit. This was going to be awkward.


	6. Phase 6

**A/N:** I have taken a few liberties with the Quileute legends (as written in _Eclipse_) that appear in this chapter, but there is method to my madness, I promise. :)

* * *

><p><span>Phase 6<span>

The rest of winter break was weird.

Bella had come over, intending to apologize to me, and she ended up getting imprinted on by one of my best friends. She didn't realize what had happened, but Embry could tell immediately. He had the decency to throw me an apologetic glance, but he spent the next two hours flirting with Bella, and she did nothing to dissuade him.

Eventually after Embry had to go home, we did talk, but she was acting all weird and flustered from Embry's "charm." I did manage to get out of her that she wasn't upset about my sexuality, it was more that I didn't tell her about it and had the nerve to go sneaking around with the guy I knew she liked.

I apologized and she accepted, but I couldn't help wondering if it would have been as easy if she didn't have Embry on the brain.

I asked my dad about imprinting that night.

"It doesn't brainwash you, Jake," he said with a sigh.

"But Bella was all normal, and then she suddenly got all girlie and weird as soon as Embry appeared. Plus, she already knows Embry."

"Had she seen Embry since he phased?"

I thought about it.

"Well, no."

"Did you ever get the impression that she liked Embry when they were around each other before?"

"I was kind of trying to figure out if _I_ liked Bella back then, but I guess he teased her. She always smiled a lot around him."

"I raised two girls, Jake. I've seen them do complete 180s when a boy they like is in the room. It's not an imprinting trick."

He was right. My sisters would go from being complete brats to hair-tossing, giggling idiots when their boyfriends would come over. I always used to hide in my room. Seeing Bella act like that around Embry threw me off a little because she never really acted like such a girl around anyone else, other than Newton at the Cullens' party, and that I passed off as her being a little drunk. Maybe she sort of sensed that Edward wasn't really right for her all along. She mostly just blushed a lot around him, and I had seen teachers blush around Edward.

After that, I started to feel genuinely happy for Bella. Embry was a good guy, and he would be whatever she needed. I never trusted Newton's intentions with her anyway. My happiness subsided a little when I patrolled with Embry the next day. His thoughts were all about Bella, if he should call Bella, if he would be coming on too strong if he went to her house, if he should ask her out on a date.

_Am I this bad about Edward?_

_I know what you think Edward's dick tastes like. You owe all of us big time._

If I was in my human form, I probably would have cringed, not so much for me, but for Edward. If I wanted to fully integrate him into my life, my friends needed to be able to look my boyfriend in the eye. I needed to figure out how to control my thoughts better, because I was in wolf form a lot more and Edward and I were getting closer to having sex. I at least wanted to keep _that_ private.

Sam increased our patrolling beyond the normal protective routes we would take around the Rez. He would send out scouts to look for activity in the main directions we thought Victoria could come. Things started getting even more tense. Not knowing what was going on had been bad, but now that we knew for sure we were specifically being targeted by some fucked up blood-sucker who hated us enough to make an army, well, we were all on edge.

We weren't alone, though. After our meeting in Port Angeles, Laurent became our go-between.

He gave Sam an untraceable cell phone and called us when he had information about Victoria. He gave us updated numbers on the newborns. It fluctuated a lot, which meant that the young vampires were just as ruthless as Laurent said. He also found out that the other vampire's scent we tracked was the first vampire Victoria had turned. His name was Riley; he was "older" than the others and thought of himself as second in command. Sam figured Victoria was waiting until the new vampires were a little more stable, and Laurent thought it was the most likely explanation as well.

Even after he had given us information that seemed to be accurate, the pack was still a little hesitant to trust him. Then, during another tracking mission to Seattle, Paul and Sam met with him, and once Paul was on board, everyone else seemed to follow. In my spare time, I did some reading on vampires. Most of what I found seemed like complete bullshit, but I wondered if the whole "allure" thing was real. I couldn't imagine how Laurent managed to get Paul on his side otherwise.

One night when he was hanging out at my house, I just asked him outright. His answer surprised me.

"Remember that rapist who was wanted down south and then was spotted outside Seattle?"

"Alonzo something, right?"

"Alonzo Calderas Wallace."

"Yeah."

"James and Laurent killed him."

"What? I thought police killed him."

"Nope, apparently James and the police have some kind of deal worked out."

"What? The Seattle police department knows that there are vampires, and they let them feed on criminals?"

"Not exactly. From what I understand, the police are more than happy be willfully ignorant."

"They're kind of like superheroes," I said in awe. I knew the elders would probably say we should trust Laurent, and by association, James, as far as we could throw them, but the more I learned about what they did, the more I kind of admired them.

"I wouldn't go that far," Paul said, punching me in the arm. "You just like them because they're on your team."

"Shut up," I replied as I hit him back, but it was kind of true. I was hoping that at some point I could talk to Laurent about his relationship with James. I didn't have anyone else; it wasn't like there was a gay community in Forks and through some intense googling, I realized I couldn't relate to a lot of the gay stereotypes. Though gay porn, admittedly, helped me out a lot the week Edward was out of town.

I was kind of grateful for Paul's teasing, though. Hanging around him made me feel normal. Before the whole phasing thing, he had been like the older brother I never had.

I did wonder why he suddenly started hanging around my dad's house like old times, until Rachel decided to visit Dad and me for New Year's.

I tried not to be pissed off that he imprinted on my sister of all people, because the way imprinting worked meant that he would be good for her. She did have a history of dating jerks. But it was hard to deal with when we were in wolf form. Not only was I bombarded with impure thoughts about Bella from Embry, now I had to watch Paul swooning over my sister in his head.

"This is just revenge," Paul had cackled to me.

I had no idea how Sam had been so good at keeping thoughts about Emily to himself. I could have sworn that Paul went out of his way to make me uncomfortable, though it was a good opportunity to work on testing the distance of our wolf mind-melding. I was able to get far enough away from Paul's thoughts, but it took me an extra two hours to get back to the Rez.

The last Friday of winter break was the day of the big tribal council meeting. I had told Edward it was a party, but it was actually a meeting of the elders. They had invited the pack to attend, and it was only after I asked Edward that they agreed to let outsiders into the meeting. Embry invited Bella and my sister was going to attend too, even though she knew about the phasing.

To say I was nervous would have been an understatement.

Edward and I had hung out for at least a little while every day after the Cullens got back. I had relaxed after he agreed to come to the meeting, but as it got closer, I started to freak out about it. Embry and I talked about it a little that morning.

"You think Bella's going to freak out?" I had blurted out while he, Quil and I were sitting around watching some stupid show on MTV they both liked.

"I've tried to hint at it a little, but I don't think she has any idea. I mean, who would believe this? But I don't know, I kind of think she'll be okay with it."

"Yeah, I think she probably will, too," I said. I didn't have much basis for it, just that Bella was stronger than she looked. She was stubborn when she felt she was in the right, but she was really accepting, too.

"You worried about Edward?" Embry asked.

"I just don't know how he's going to react," I said. "I mean, I haven't really known him all that long. I could tell you his favorite book and that he's allergic to shellfish and he makes this noise when I, well, never mind, but I don't know how good he is with change."

"Didn't he grow up in foster homes?" Quil asked quietly.

"Yeah," I said. I forgot that Quil and Edward were in a lot of the same classes. They were quickly becoming good friends.

"Well, that kind of makes you ready for changing situations, I think. I bet he'll be more okay with it than you think."

"Thanks, Quil. I hope you're right."

"Quil's always right," Embry groaned. "Now let's stop talking about this before I drive myself crazy."

"Sure, sure," I said, but I couldn't stop my mind from going there on occasion during the rest of the day.

Edward came over to my house before the meeting. Instead of trying to give him some kind of hint as to what he was in for, I did the weird wolfy protective thing and made sure he was bundled up. Usually, tribal council meetings were held outside, but it had been raining off and on all day, so we were having it in the lodge. The lodge wasn't heated, though.

Edward could tell I was nervous, but he didn't say anything as we heading toward the meeting. He just squeezed my hand tightly while we walked.

Almost everyone was already there when we arrived. Both Quil and Seth greeted Edward warmly. Bella smiled at him from where she sat, clinging to Embry's side. Even Leah nodded her head. She hated imprinting, but since Paul and Embry both imprinted on girls, they had gone on Leah's shit list, lifting me off it.

There were low wooden benches set up around where Harry sat. I picked a spot in the back, just in case Edward flipped out. He sat down next to me on the bench. I scooted even closer to him. I had gotten so used to invading Edward's space that I was going to have a hard time returning to school on Monday, where I had to pretend I was just Edward's friend.

That was, assuming Edward was still talking to me after finding out what I was.

I grabbed Edward's hand and gave it a hard squeeze.

I didn't have time to dwell, though, because Harry started talking. Even though I knew the stories, I couldn't help but get sucked into his deep voice.

"The Quileute are a proud people, direct descendents from the wolf. But we were not always shifters. We did not always change form like we do today," Harry began.

I could feel Edward turn and look at me, but I kept my eyes straight ahead, I needed him to have the whole story before he asked any questions.

"First, we were spirit warriors. The spirit warriors possessed magic unknown today. In order to defend our land, they were able to release their spirits from their bodies. When enemies attacked, the spirits would blow fierce winds into their camps. They could make a screaming wind that would scare off enemies and drive them back. However, the greatest power the spirit warriors had was the ability to communicate with the animals. They were able to speak with the packs of wolves that lived in the great forest, and in exchange for not hunting all of the wolves' game, the wolves would help defend our land."

"It was not easy being a spirit warrior. All our stories tell us how frightening it was to be apart from one's body. The last of the great spirit warriors, as we know, was Taha Aki. Taha Aki was revered by the tribe, but not by everyone. He was challenged by Utlapa, who was jealous of Taha Aki's role in the tribe. One day, when Taha Aki left his body to go look at a skirmish that happened near the border of our lands, Utlapa took Taha Aki's body. He hid the body where Taha Aki would not find it, thinking that if he could not return to his body, his role as leader could be overtaken. What Utlapa underestimated was the love the people had for Taha Aki, so his attempt to take power grew violent."

"Without a body Taha Aki felt lost, angry, and unsettled. He did not know what happened to his body, so he spent much time searching for it. After some time, the leader of the wolf pack sensed his unrest and allowed the spirit warrior to share his body. Taha Aki, grateful for the body, took the wolf up on the offer. When he returned to his people in the body of the wolf, he saw the destruction Utlapa was causing. But he arrived too late. In order to ensure the line of command was permanently severed, Utlapa killed Taha Aki's only son, leaving the tribe without an heir.

"At the rage of seeing his own son, his flesh and blood being killed, a bit of magic happened within the great spirit warrior, and he fully merged with the wolf."

"Today this is the reason why we transform. Our kinship with the wolf is as old as our people, and Taha Aki assured the permanence of this bond."

Edward was tense beside me. I could almost hear the wheels turning in his head as he gripped my hand. He smelled scared and confused, and as Harry told the next story, I knew it was about to get worse.

"That is how the magic came to us, but it is not the end of the story."

"Many years after Taha Aki was able to separate from the spirit wolf's body and die a human death, trouble began in the north. Several young women had disappeared from the neighboring tribe, the Makahs, and they blamed wolves for the loss. It had been a rough winter, and they thought the wolves had grown so desperate to eat that they had turned to eating human flesh. Of course, the wolves were not to blame. They would never hurt a human unless the human struck first. But the Makahs were grieving and they threw their blame carelessly."

"In order to clear the name of the wolf, our new leader, Yaha Uta began to search for what had been taking the young women. After much searching, he and his brothers came upon two creatures, one looked like a man and another like a woman, but they were unearthly pale and hard as marble. The male creature had a young woman in his grasp, and the two were taking turns drinking the woman's blood. Yaha Uta and his brothers tried to attack the creatures with their spears, but the creatures were strong and the spears bounced off them. The creatures turned their attack on the brothers."

"This enraged Yaha Uta so much that he phased into a wolf on the spot. It was the first time a Quileute had appeared in wolf form since Taha Aki. In his wolf form, Yaha Uta managed to tear the male creature apart, while the female ran off in fear. After he returned to his human form, he and his brothers burned the pieces to assure the creature was truly destroyed. They scattered the remains in the ocean, but Yaha Uta kept a small bag of the ashes and wore it around his neck."

For emphasis, Harry tugged at the leather cord around his neck, revealing a small leather pouch that had been tucked under his shirt. It was blackened with age. Edward gasped beside me.

"They called this creature the cold one, the blood drinker, the vampire. And this is why they have returned, to seek their revenge on us, even though we are a peaceful people and they struck first, killing the daughters of our neighbors. In this time of trouble, the return of the cold ones, we must remember the brave actions of Yaha Uta and the spirit of Taha Aki. They survived as we will survive, and the blood of our people will remain strong."

As soon as Harry finished talking, I turned to look at Edward. He still had a death grip on my hand and his face was as white as a sheet. He shook his hand free and stood up roughly, stumbling over the bench before he shot straight out of the lodge door.

"Edward!" I called after him.

I was horrified both that I had lost him and that he was walking through woods alone, at night, when there was a sociopathic vampire and her army lurking around. I had to exercise more self-control than I thought I had not to phase, but I realized if Edward was anywhere close enough to see it, he would probably freak out. Instead, I followed him on foot. Even in my human form, his scent was strong.

It didn't take me very long before I caught up to him. He was standing, bracing himself on a tree at the edge of the forest, and I could tell he was visibly shaking.

"Edward," I tried again, softer this time. "I know it's fucked up and a lot to take in. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before. I just- I just didn't know how."

He didn't say a word.

"Please," I whispered. I didn't realize until then how close to tears I was. "Please say something."

Edward turned then. I wanted to reach out and grab him and pull him to me, but I knew I couldn't. In the dim light, I could still make out his steeled expression.

"You're a werewolf," Edward said calmly, maybe too calmly.

"Well, not a werewolf. We're shifters. We turn into regular wolves, just really big ones. There's no howling at moons or anything like that. A silver bullet would kill me because it's a bullet, not because it's silver."

Edward was just staring at me, blinking, and I never felt more helpless in my life. I think he must have sensed my worry, because suddenly he was stepping toward me and reaching up to cup my face.

"It doesn't matter to me."

"What?"

"It doesn't matter to me. If you changed into a ferret, it wouldn't change the way I feel about you."

"Then what's wrong?"

"You're in danger, aren't you? What he said, about the cold ones coming back, that's what you're thinking about when you get that worried look on your face, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah," I whispered.

"I- I'm scared for you."

"Edward," I whispered, before I wrapped my arms around him. He didn't hate me. He wasn't completely freaked out. He was worried about me.

I squeezed him, maybe a little too tightly, but he didn't complain. He scrabbled at my back, as if trying to pull me in even closer. I wanted to tell him not to worry and take him home and get him naked, but I knew I couldn't keep any more secrets from him. I released him from my embrace but grabbed his hands. I needed to keep contact with him.

"There's something else," I said, hanging my head. "Something that Harry didn't mention in the story."

How was I supposed to explain it to him?

"What is it? Is it bad? You can tell me."

"Well." I took a deep breath. "The thing about wolves, at least our kind of wolf, is that they mate for life."

I raised my head and looked at Edward as his eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything.

"We do this thing called imprinting," I continued. "When we see our mate for the first time, it's like nothing else matters in the world. They become the most important thing in the universe. It's like they are specially chosen for us."

Edward's eyes grew wider and wider as I spoke. Then he shook his hands free from mine, and before I finished talking he was shaking his head and turning away.

"What? Edward, let me finish! Please!"

He turned back to me and shouted, "I don't want to hear it, Jake! I don't want to hear about how you've imprinted on some girl and now you have to carry on the Black line. I obviously can't compete with that!"

"No! No, you don't understand!" I cried out, but Edward was stumbling away. I called out after him. "I'm gay! There isn't any girl!"

Edward stopped in his tracks and spun around once more. His eyes were red-rimmed and tears were starting to fall out of them. I crept closer to him slowly, as if he were a frightened animal.

"How does that make it any better? So now I have to know that there's some guy out there that's-"

I cut him off by grabbing onto his hair and pulling his lips to mine. Our teeth knocked together and it was sloppy, but I couldn't see him cry. I couldn't be the one who did that to him, even if it was just in a misunderstanding.

As soon as I gave him an inch, he started to squirm out of my grasp.

"It's you, you idiot!" I gasped.

That stopped him.

"What?"

"I imprinted on you. I just didn't know how to tell you that either. I didn't want to freak you out."

"You-? I'm-?"

I had never seen Edward look so thoroughly confused.

"We were made for each other, Edward," I whispered. "You're it."

Shock replaced confusion on his face.

"We- what?"

"The elders couldn't remember there ever being a wolf who imprinted on another guy, but there wasn't a female wolf until Leah. I guess our generation is breaking all the rules now, but they assured me the imprinting is never a mistake. We imprint on the person best suited for us. And that's you."

"This is, wow," Edward said. "I need a second for this to sink in."

I let Edward go again to give him a little space, and he stood in front of me, blinking. I watched him intently while the wheels turned. Finally, a smile began to play at his lips. When he looked up at me, he broke into a grin.

"I love you," he said.

I opened my mouth and he held up his hand, asking me let him finish.

"I thought it was too soon to say it, since I've only known you for a month, but it felt so right. I was miserable when I was in Chicago. I tried to fake it, but everyone knew. Esme and Carlisle teased me about puppy love, but I knew that wasn't it. I feel it deep down inside me, that we're connected in some fundamental way. And now I know, and I love you."

"I love you, too," I whispered.

We kissed then, like in a silly fairy tale, until I killed the moment by my stomach growling.

Edward broke the kiss laughing.

"What?" I said, rubbing my stomach. "I have to keep the wolf happy. I was so nervous I could barely eat all day."

"Then we should probably get you home. I'm sorry you were so nervous because of me."

"Well, I didn't know how you would react to it. I was completely wigged out when I found out about the wolf thing, and I'm one of them. The fact that you seem so accepting of it is weird."

"I've always wanted to believe things like magic were real. It's kind of awesome, really. It's like you're an animagus."

"A what?"

"Ugh, I can't believe you've never read _Harry Potter_."

"Sorry. I've never been able to sit still long enough to read. It's not all fun and games, though, you know. Wolves are kind of volatile when provoked. You saw Emily. The scars on her face? Those are because Sam phased unexpectedly and she got in the way."

"I trust you, Jacob. You're one of the calmest people I know."

"I'm just warning you Edward, but know that I would never, ever hurt you on purpose."

Edward didn't respond right away, so I nudged him.

"The vampires. Just how dangerous is it for you?"

"I was hoping you would forget about that."

"That bad?"

"There's one vampire in particular, a female. We think she set the fire at the Rez school. Well, she's been creating a sort of militia of vampires, and we're pretty sure she plans to attack us."

Edward inhaled sharply.

"But we're strong, Edward. We're made to fight vampires. We can tear them apart with our teeth, and we have inside information, so we'll be ready for her. I promise."

"I want to see you."

"Edward, I don't know."

"Please."

I couldn't say no to him, so I started peeling off my clothes.

"What are you doing?"

"Wolves don't wear clothes," I replied, wiggling my eyebrows.

As I stripped, I could feel Edward's eyes on me looking me up and down. It felt good to be looked at that way, especially by Edward. I handed my clothes to him and dropped a kiss on his cheek.

"Are you ready for this?"

He nodded.

"Okay," I said.

I took a deep breath and walked away from Edward. I needed to give myself enough distance, just in case.

As soon as I felt like it was safe enough, I phased.

Edward gasped loudly. His eyes almost bugged out of his head like a cartoon character, but he didn't flinch. His breathing evened out and I took a few steps closer. His scent filled my nostrils, and it was ten times more intoxicating to me than it usually was. I stepped forward tentatively. His eyes were wide, but he was getting calmer and calmer with each breath. Soon I was mere feet from him. He stretched out his arm.

"Can I pet you?" he asked softly.

I nodded my head slowly and then lowered my body to the ground. It was a little weird at first, having my boyfriend pet me, but when his hand started carding through my fur, I swear my tail wagged. I started to get embarrassed, being treated like a housepet instead of a badass wolf, so I nudged Edward's hand one more time with my nose, backed away and phased back.

"So?" I asked while I got my clothes back on.

"That was awesome," Edward said, not covering the awe in his voice. "You're like a superhero or something."

"You're a dork," I teased him.

"You like it," he shot back.

"Yeah, I kind of do," I said.

I put my arm around his shoulders and we walked back to my dad's house so I could finally get something to eat.

Later that night, Embry came over to see how things were with Edward.

"He freaked out mostly because of the vampires, but he was surprisingly cool with everything else. How did Bella take it?"

"Well..." Embry started.

"She didn't freak out, did she?"

"Not about the wolf thing! I mean, she is really worried for all of us about the leeches, but she seemed completely cool about the phasing."

"So what's wrong then?"

"She freaked out about the imprinting."

"She's the one who kept whining about not having a boyfriend," I protested.

"I tried to explain that imprinting wasn't like a normal relationship, but she started going on and on about not being a teenage bride and ending up like her parents."

I couldn't help it and started laughing.

"It's not funny!"

"Did you tell her you didn't have to get married?"

"Yes!"

I was doubled over laughing. I could picture Bella freaking out about it.

"Edward was happy about it," I gloated, after I caught my breath.

"Shut up."

"It's not my fault. Girls are weird."

"You're lucky," Embry groaned. "Well, minus the butt sex thing."

I threw a pillow at him, but it did get me thinking. Now that everything was out in the open between me and Edward, the idea of going all the way was a lot more appealing to me. I wondered if Edward was ready.

Unfortunately, my hopes of being alone with Edward to find out decreased dramatically when Sam got an unexpected phone call from Laurent on the last day of winter break.

All Laurent said was, "The situation is more dire than we thought. You're going to need more help. Bring your pack to meet me tomorrow at the north border."

Laurent hung up abruptly.

Sam came to my house after receiving the phone call, where I was trying to ignore Paul and Rachel making out in the living room.

"Should we trust him?" I asked after Sam told us about the meeting.

"I think we don't have a choice," Sam said.

"We can't deny the possibility that it might be a trap," Paul said.

"I don't want Laurent to think we don't trust him, but I do think we should stay cautious. Anyway, we can't all meet with him and shirk patrol duty. Paul, I'm sending you and Jared out beforehand to secure the area around the meeting point. And if it's not a trap, then Laurent will understand why we exercised caution."

Jared and Paul hadn't returned by the time the meeting started and Leah and Quil were doing normal guarding around the perimeter of the Rez, so it was just six of us who were waiting to meet Laurent. We were nervous, all of us but Sam stayed in wolf form, and the link was buzzing with speculation. We were quieted as soon as the combined scent of Laurent and a second, unfamiliar vampire filled our nostrils.

"I see you couldn't all make it," Laurent said with a sly grin.

"Two more will be joining us soon, but I couldn't call off all the patrolling."

"I understand. You are right to be cautious, but I assure you I want nothing more than to see Victoria destroyed. What she is doing is reckless and dangerous to my kind as well as yours."

"I'm surprised the Volturi haven't stepped in," came a voice belonging to the other vampire, lurking in the shadow behind Laurent.

We all tensed at the voice.

"I apologize for my faux pas," Laurent said. "This is my friend Garrett. I have told him about the situation and he is equally horrified by Victoria's actions. So much so that he has agreed to offer his expertise."

Garrett stepped forward then and stood by Laurent. He was taller than Laurent, probably about Edward's height, with long blond hair that was pulled back. He stood stock straight like a soldier might, as his red eyes swept over all of us quickly.

"Remarkable," he murmured, before stepping forward to offer Sam his hand.

"I assure you I am on your side. Whatever trust you have put in Laurent, you can put in me. When he told me about your plight, I figured it only makes sense that we work together."

"I have told you as much as I could, but I don't have the experience Garrett has with fighting. I have very little experience with newborns, excepting my own time as one."

Garrett laughed, "You speak as if you are that much older than I."

It struck me then that I had no idea how old Laurent was. I added that to my list of questions I wanted to ask him if I ever got the chance.

"How do you think you can help us?" Sam interrupted. "And what's a Volturi?"

"Don't worry about the Volturi," Laurent said quickly. "It is best if they don't know you exist and vice versa."

Now I was thoroughly confused, but then Garrett started speaking.

"I was a soldier in during the American Revolution. The tactics we used were guerrilla, and that is the type of fighting you are going to have to use against an army of newborns."

The tone in his voice was so serious, we all stood straighter at attention. I sensed Jared and Paul returning, but even Paul knew enough to keep quiet.

"Laurent has already told you that newborns are primarily driven by bloodlust. They are reckless and hasty, like children. Your blood will not be particularly appealing to them, but it smells human enough that they will still want to strike. I fought along side some of my peers in the Southern Wars of the 1870s. I don't suppose they teach you about them in history books, but I helped take down an awful lot of newborns during those years. I can tell you their weaknesses, and with Laurent's help, I want to help you practice fighting techniques. This isn't like pulling down game. These are sentient creatures, stronger than anything you have ever faced."

I could feel a mix of anticipation and excitement ripple over the wolf bond.

"I know you are skeptical about trusting any of our kind, but as Laurent said, having Victoria on the loose is dangerous for us, too. I, for one, do not want to see innocent people transformed in order to serve a personal vendetta. We need to be ready. We need to be ready for a fight. And I will pledge to fight alongside you as my brothers."

We all communicated words of agreement over the link, before Paul nodded to Sam.

Sam stepped forward and shook Garrett's hand.

"The times are changing. We appreciate your help."

Garrett's words had gotten my blood rushing along with everyone else's, but I would be lying if I said some that rush wasn't from fear.

The training sessions were exhausting, even for us, and it took a lot to make us tired. Garrett's rules of fighting newborns quickly became drilled into my memory: Don't let them get their arms around you. Don't go for the obvious kill. Never lose focus.

Since they had numbers, we had to get used to fighting two vampires at a time. Laurent and Garrett put a lot of trust in us, letting themselves be our practice dummies. We had to count on the newborns not knowing how to fight against wolves. Garrett thought their instincts might kick in and they would try to go for our throats, so as long as we didn't keep our throats exposed, we would probably be okay. The main goal was to rip off their heads and if that wasn't plausible for a first strike, tear off their limbs. In wolf form, it all felt natural. Once I phased back though, I was kind of freaked out by the whole killing instinct thing. I knew the blood-suckers needed to be destroyed, and that we were preparing the best we could, but it was still scary to think about.

Garrett was a great teacher but very demanding. In my spare time, all I wanted to do was sleep. I barely had any time to go see Edward, and usually when I went over to the Cullen's or he came over to mine, he spent a lot of time hanging around while I napped. But when I was awake, it felt so good to be able to finally talk to him about what I was doing. He tried not to show how worried he was, but I could tell.

"I want to come to one of the training sessions."

"It's not a good idea, Edward."

"I want to see you in action."

"Out of the question. It's too dangerous."

"What if I stay really far out of the way?"

"Edward, you do realize there are vampires there, right?"

"So..."

"Aren't you curious about their diet?"

"Well they don't seem to harm any of you."

"Apparently we smell repulsive to them."

Edward looked for a second like he was going to laugh, but then his face melted into disbelief.

"But you smell so good."

I groaned softly and pounced on Edward, kissing away his questions. I didn't want him anywhere around the fighting, training or otherwise. It was always a little dangerous to have him be around a bunch of us who could phase, but when we were in fight mode? There was no way. It would be too easy for something to go wrong. Plus, he was worried enough about the pending fight as it was. If he saw us in action, I was afraid it would become too real and he would just freak out more.

It turned out he wouldn't have to worry much longer. It was two weeks after we started meeting with Garrett when it happened. We got the phone call from Laurent that we had been waiting for and dreading. Victoria was close to having sufficient numbers, thirty newborn vampires, and she was planning on bringing them to the Reservation in a week, timing it with what was predicted to be the first torrential rainstorm of the year.

Now all we had to do was wait.


	7. Phase 7

**A/N: **Thank you all for reading! A short final chapter/epilogue will be posted tomorrow.

* * *

><p><span>Phase 7<span>

I was basically worthless at school that whole week.

I usually participated in my classes, was even a little bit of a class clown, but it was too hard for me to concentrate on anything, I just kind of zoned out. It seemed like everyone else was kind of on a low due to the start of the rainiest time of the year and nothing to look forward to until Spring Break.

Of course, it helped that Edward knew what was going on. I couldn't spend as much time with him because of the training sessions that I had successfully kept him away from, but I did talk to him a little bit about our strategy. I tried to reassure him that even though they had numbers, given their inexperience fighting and simple intellects, we really did have the upper hand.

I didn't tell him right away that we finally had a date for the attack. The closer it got, the more I started to play possible scenarios in my head.

It was obvious that I was pre-occupied, though. So after he sucked me off until I was in that nice hazy state of compliance, I finally gave in and told Edward the whole plan.

We knew the vampires would be coming from the water, but we needed to draw them away from it so they couldn't use it to take cover. We were all strong swimmers, but we still needed oxygen and were at a distinct disadvantage in a battle by the coast.

"I want to help," he said immediately.

"Edward, you don't understand how dangerous this is. There's nothing you could possibly do."

He bit his lip and stared off thoughtfully for a minute.

"You said that these newborn vampires are completely driven by human blood, right?"

"Yes," I said cautiously, unsure of where he was going with this.

"And they aren't interested in your blood because it smells wolfy?"

"Right," I said, narrowing my eyes.

"So that means the scent of my blood will attract them."

"Edward, no. No, it's not going to happen, I won't let you." I crossed my arms over my chest to emphasize my point.

"Won't let me? You're not in charge of me."

"I'm stronger."

"I'm older."

"I'm faster."

"I'm smarter."

I stuck my tongue out at him. It was true, though. Edward was easily the smartest person at school. In fact, I was pretty sure he was smarter than most of the teachers.

"Clearly I'm also more mature," he scoffed.

"How smart can you be if you're _asking_ to be vampire-bait?"

"I'm not asking to be bait. My blood still smells even when it's not in my body, right?"

"Oh."

"So why couldn't I just smear some of my blood on some trees or rocks wherever you want the battle to happen? They would be drawn to that, right?"

"Well," I started.

"It would! I know it would! Let me help, please. It will only cost me a couple paper cuts."

It actually was a good plan. The smell of Edward's blood would lure the newborns away from the shore, and into the woods, where we would be at our best. Not to mention, we would be choosing the battle location from the beginning. There was just one problem.

"If they get wind of your scent, what's to keep them from following it directly to you?"

Edward's face fell perceptibly. I was about to thank him for the offer when his face lit up again.

"Your scent will mask mine, right?"

"I don't know. The scent of blood is really powerful to a vampire."

"But it can't be powerful over too far of a distance, right? I mean, couldn't I mark the area and then have you or one of the other wolves take me away from it, so your scent would cover mine?"

"Maybe..." I started. "It's still kind of risky, though. I don't know if it's possible, but if there's even a chance that they could trace you back to your house, your whole family would be in danger."

"So, I'll go somewhere else. Put me in a safe house or something away from the fight. Please. Let me help. You're this big strong wolf and I'm this fragile human. I just want to do something that would help."

I sighed heavily. It was the best idea I had heard about how to lure the vampires to us. I just wish it didn't have to be Edward's blood being offered. He was staring at me so earnestly, and I guess I could kind of understand how he felt. I wouldn't like to sit around feeling helpless if the situation were reversed.

"I'll ask Sam," I said finally. "But I'm only agreeing to this if we can keep you safe."

I did talk to Sam about it the next day. He thought it was a great idea.

"Laurent actually made a similar suggestion. He thought about breaking into a blood bank, but it probably wouldn't have the desired effect. Vampires like fresh blood."

"But won't Edward be in danger?"

"I think masking his scent with yours would work. It would make them less likely to follow the trail anyway."

"But where am I going to take him? I don't want a trail leading to the Cullen's house."

Sam smirked at me before asking, "How do you feel about camping?"

Before I knew it, it was Friday, the day before our attack.

Edward came home from school with me. Edward assured Carlisle and Esme that he would be spending the night at my house and that my dad and Rachel would be around the whole time. I wondered how horrified they would be if they knew what Edward was really doing.

We waited until dusk before setting the trap. Laurent's intel told us that the vampires would be arriving around dawn, so we needed Edward's blood to be as fresh as we could.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked one last time.

"Yes, yes of course. It's going to help you, right?"

I nodded weakly.

"It's really cool that you're doing this, Edward," Seth said. He was going to come with us to the camping spot. I wasn't about to leave Edward alone in the woods unprotected during the fight, so Sam decided to have Seth keep guard over him. Seth was the youngest of us, and Sam worried about him even though Seth could hold his own.

"I'm sorry you're going to miss out on the fight on my account," Edward said. He understood that by him setting the trap, it would bring our numbers down by one, but the advantage we would gain having the battle in a meadow away from the Rez would more than make up for it. We knew the woods around the area so well, the leeches wouldn't be able to get very far if any of them did manage to make a break for it.

"It's all right. I'll be able to let you know what's going on, and if they really need me, they'll call for me."

"I'll be fine up in the tent by my-"

"Nope, no way. Not gonna happen," I cut in.

"Fine," Edward said with exasperation.

We'd already had this conversation. I tried to convince Edward that what we were facing was more dangerous than anything he could imagine. What finally sold him was when I told him that I wouldn't be able to concentrate on the fight unless I knew he was safe and out of the way.

"You're doing your part by luring them here," I insisted.

Edward had stolen a bunch of blood lancets from the hospital, so he took one and pricked his thumb, waiting for the blood to pool and then wiping it off on one of the large trees on the edge of the meadow. He continued this pattern on all of his fingers. Seth phased to test for Edward's scent. When he phased back, he confirmed that even to our senses, which weren't tuned to human blood, the scent was noticeable. Laurent assured us that it wouldn't take very much blood for the smell to overwhelm the newborns. The whole pack's scent would be all over the woods by the next morning. I just hoped that would be enough to keep them from finding Edward.

We started hiking up to the campsite. Seth and I stayed close to Edward in hopes of confusing the scent. I almost offered to carry Edward piggy back, which would have made the trip a lot faster, but I could tell he would have been offended. Even though he claimed to like the idea of dating a supernatural wolf, he wasn't used to feeling so human.

The hike wasn't bad, but it was practically dark when we reached the tent Seth and Sam had set up. It was starting to get cold, so I built a fire. The three of us sat around it and ate the dinner Emily had made for us. Conversation was stilted though, the battle was weighing on our minds and I was preoccupied with another matter entirely.

I shooed Seth away. He was on patrol duty anyway, particularly because he wasn't fighting tomorrow, but I didn't want him to linger.

I was going to be alone with Edward all night. Even though I was confident that we could win the fight, I wasn't about to spend the night before the battle hanging out and playing cards with Seth.

Edward started to shiver a little, so I ushered him into the tent. It was a little warmer inside, protected from the wind, and it looked like the rain that had been forecasted was going to miss us to the north.

"So..." Edward started.

"So..." I mimicked.

That seemed to be all the foreplay we needed, because we both reached for each other at the same time and started frantically kissing and tearing at the other's clothes. I dragged Edward down onto the sleeping bags and pulled him on top of me. Even with the mat and sleeping bags, the ground was kind of cold but after a few seconds, it didn't register anymore. The only thing that I could focus on was Edward.

He was straddling one of my thighs, rubbing his hard dick against it. I tried to pull him up further so I could rut against him, too. Then he brought his head up to bite at my nipples and I completely forget what I was doing. Finally I remember that I wanted Edward naked, so I went back to getting him out of his jeans.

Eventually we were both completely naked. It was hot inside the tent both from my unnatural body heat and the heat we were making between us. Our cocks were getting slick, sliding together. My hands were on Edward's ass and I couldn't resist helping him grind down harder on me.

I kissed his neck, licking my way up to his ear.

"How do you want to do this?" I asked him.

"I thought you would want to, you know, be on top."

"I'll do whatever you want me to do, Edward. It's completely up to you."

"I want you to- to be on top." His body flushed red. "I want to feel you in me."

I groaned. I would have done anything Edward asked. Ever since the first time he touched my prostate with his long fingers in my ass, I was really starting to warm up to the idea that maybe being on the bottom of butt sex wasn't as bad as it sounded.

But Edward asked, and I could never refuse him.

I tried to pretend I wasn't nervous, but I was shaking when I crawled over to the bag I packed to retrieve lube and a condom. I was at the store with my dad when I bought them. After that, I figured nothing else could be even remotely as awkward.

I knew that I was supposed to stretch Edward out first, especially the first time, so I focused on that and tried not to freak out. I had fingered Edward before, like he had me, so it wasn't completely new. But this time I wasn't just trying to find Edward's prostate, I was actually stretching him out for my dick to go inside him.

I tried to go slow and careful, using way too much lube, but Edward was too worked up. His legs were spread wide open and he was rocking on my fingers and it was so hot to watch, I could barely take it.

"Do it," Edward croaked out.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes at me, which I figured was a good sign. At least one of us wasn't nervous.

I was trying to slow my heartbeat down while I rolled the condom on. I fumbled with it a few times but eventually got it on and coated it with more lube.

Edward rolled over and got up on his hands and knees, pushing his ass back like he was offering it to me.

"Edward," I groaned.

I positioned myself behind him and lined myself up with his hole. I pushed in slow, giving Edward a lot of time until he told me to get on with it. I had to focus on him and not think about how good it felt. It was a little awkward at first. I couldn't really set up a rhythm. It was just so tight, I basically alternated between quick thrusts and then pausing to make myself not come.

It was over quickly, but that didn't matter. I had managed to get Edward off with my hand before I completely lost it.

I rolled off Edward and then we lay side by side. I wasn't sure if Edward was okay with it until he whispered, "Wow. We need to do that again."

I reached for his hand and laced my fingers with his.

"I'm definitely in favor of that."

We were quiet for awhile longer, and I was starting to fall asleep.

"I'm cold," Edward finally said, sounding more clear-headed.

"Come here."

Edward tucked himself against me, tangling his legs in mine, and I pulled the sleeping bag up over us before wrapping my arms around him.

I was woken up at dawn by Seth, in his wolf form, nudging my feet with his cold nose.

"Shit!" I said, feeling Edward groan and shift beside me. "Get out of here and let Edward get dressed."

I swear I could see Seth smirk.

Edward got dressed silently while I pulled on a pair of shorts. I was just going to take them off to phase and stash them near the meadow anyway, but I figured it would make Edward more comfortable.

We didn't say anything. We didn't really need to. Edward was scared, and I was nervous and antsy, so I just wrapped my arms around him and held onto him as tight as I could.

"Love you, Edward," I whispered.

"I love you, too, Jake," he murmured back. "Be safe."

With a nod to Seth, I turned and phased. As I got closer to the meadow, I could feel the rest of the pack in my head. They weren't saying much, though. Paul was either trying to give us a pep talk or calm himself down by running off a bunch of bullshit about betting he could take down more leeches than anyone else. Finally Jared starting egging him on, and before I knew it, the rest of the pack was starting to place wagers on the two of them.

By the time Sam told them to knock it off, Paul was predicting his numbers would be in the double digits.

I paced back and forth. Leaving Edward up there on the mountain was probably the stupidest thing I had ever done. It wasn't that I didn't trust Seth, but I could smell Edward's scent all over the place.

Laurent and Garrett greeted us at dawn as we agreed. Laurent looked right at me and nodded.

"Your mate did well," he said quietly. "They will be attracted here immediately."

I wanted to ask him if it was hard for him to smell human blood, but he didn't look uncomfortable. Neither did Garrett, but I didn't trust him as much as I did Laurent.

I must have looked at Garrett with a growl, because Laurent chuckled at me, "Don't worry. Garrett has recently been looking into vegetarianism."

I titled my head.

"Inside joke. Vampires who only drink the blood of animals." He added with a whisper, "I think he's trying to impress a girl."

A small rock came flying toward Laurent's head. He caught it easily in his hand and raised an eyebrow at Garrett.

They promised to stay hidden until the fight started. At this point, it was likely that the red-head suspected Laurent of something, but she was too arrogant to think we would be prepared for the fight and too narrow-minded to think Laurent would ever help fight his own kind. Laurent assured us that James would join in the fight, too. He was somewhere nearby, but he wanted to stay covered until the fight started. He had told Victoria he wanted no part of her scheme, so she would be immediately suspicious if she saw him.

That meant there were ten of us, well, nine since Seth was on Edward-protection duty and three vampires. They had over twice our numbers, but we had strategy.

It felt like I had been pacing for hours, but suddenly the noxious sweet scent of vampire hit my nostrils.

I held my breath and watched from my position. I could feel the rest of the pack struggling to wait for Sam's signal too. We weren't supposed to attack too soon in order to make sure none of the blood-suckers lagged behind and then fled, so I had to sit back on my haunches and take in the scene.

They came charging through to the meadow, clearly crazed by the scent of Edward's blood. They all split apart, going to every place Edward had marked with his blood. They were just like they had been when I saw them in the warehouse, much more like crazed animals than anything human, and they were getting into a frenzy over _my_ Edward's blood.

If Sam didn't given us the signal soon, I was going to snap.

Luckily he did, and we charged.

The battle had begun.

Jared and Paul were the first ones to reach the vampires, and it was only seconds before Paul had ripped the head off one of the leeches with a snap of his jaws. Jared wasn't far behind with his first kill.

At first I tried to pay attention to everything that was going on around me, trying to keep track of how everyone else was faring, but it took all my concentration to focus on the newborns.

It started out all right, I focused on two while they were trying to follow Edward's scent around a tree near the edge of the meadow. I crept up slowly then came up behind them and grabbed the closest one's arm in my teeth. Its skin was hard, but my teeth were strong enough. I pulled as hard as I could, and sure enough, the limb snapped off. The vampire shrieked and turned around, presumably to come after me. I didn't give it time to reach me, instead lunging for the second one. I used Paul's example and went right for its throat, opening my jaw wide enough grab its neck between my teeth. I was able to clamp down on it, forcing the leech down to its knees.

Unfortunately, I had given the first one a chance to come back at me, even without an arm it tried to jump on my back. I reared up on my hind legs without dropping the second from my grasp, trying to throw the first leech off balance. It was bringing its arm around to choke me, so I did the only thing I could do and bit down hard on the neck of the second. I could feel its neck snap under my jaw and its head roll back.

The adrenaline spike was enough for me to throw the first leech off my back. It looked confused for a second, looking at its fallen comrade. That was all the time I needed to tear its head off as well. I dragged the first body over to the second, ripping off its arms for good measure.

It was only after both their bodies were lying in a heap that I was able to survey the fight. It looked like we were doing well. Two of the newborns started attacking each other. Paul was acting like a crazed fool, jumping around, taunting the vampires, confusing them so Collin and Brady could attack from behind. Garrett looked like a man possessed, swearing a string of what I could only imagine were 18th century curses. I couldn't see Quil, Embry or Sam from my vantage point, but I hoped they were doing okay. Jared looked like he was limping a little bit, but he was still holding his own. Leah was handily fending off three small females simultaneously. Laurent and a vampire I assumed was James were fighting together near me. I watched them for a moment, how seamlessly they were able to work together. Laurent would grab a newborn's limbs while James snapped off its head.

That's when I noticed that something was off. The vampire we figured was second in command was there, shouting orders that went completely unheard. There was no sign of the red-head

Shit.

_There was no sign of the red-head._

I turned to Laurent. His eyes were wide as if he had just come to the same realization.

"Your mate," he gasped.

I took a look around and quickly phased. If Laurent knew something about Edward, I needed to talk to him, even if it put me in danger.

"What?" I asked desperately.

"Where is your mate?" Laurent asked, thankfully ignoring my nudity.

"Edward's in danger?"

"Something I overheard her say to James. It all makes sense now," Laurent muttered.

"What is it?"

"There's no time. Go to him. Now," James cried out from behind Laurent, his eyes looking just as concerned.

I didn't question it. The fear in Laurent and James' expressions was so genuine, my heart leaped up in my throat. I phased back immediately and started running. I knocked over a newborn who was about to attack Quil, causing him to fly into a tree. I didn't stick around to see what happened next.

_Seth! Seth! _I called in my head.

_Jake? _Seth answered.

_She's on her way to you._

_What? Why?_

_No time. Keep Edward safe._

I ran faster than I ever had in my life. Luckily I was familiar with the woods and could let my instinct take over. In that moment, I think I understood how Taha Aki must have felt when he inhabited the wolf body. I hardly felt human anymore, the earth just seemed to give way to my need to get to Edward as fast as possible.

I smelled her before I saw her.

When I turned the corner, I saw Seth standing in front of Edward, baring his teeth and growling. She looked like she was about go in for the attack, so I did the only thing I could think of to distract her. It was probably stupid, but I needed to know. So I phased.

"Why are you doing this?" I called out.

She spun around quickly, then took one look at me and started laughing.

I had to keep her distracted, hoping against hope that none of her army thought to follow me and Seth would keep himself between her and Edward at all costs. For now he was safe. Seth was walking slowing backward away from our showdown, and Edward was following his lead.

"I was bored," the red-head answered me.

"You're lying," I hissed.

I phased quickly and lunged for her, but she dodged it. I went for her again, but she was too fast. We started circling each other and I became painfully aware that she was just teasing me.

"You really want to know why?"

I growled in response and lunged for her again. She danced out of the way seemingly without effort. Then a smile that could only be described as cold crossed her face.

"Yaha Uta killed my mate," she said in a calm, detached voice.

It all clicked. That's why she had targeted the reservation in the first place. I wondered how long she had been watching us and just how much she knew about us. If she remembered the name Yaha Uta, there was no telling what other things she found out. My stomach sank and I felt sick. She didn't just follow Edward's trail of blood, it was like she already knew how important he was to me.

I wondered why she had waited so long to seek revenge, but then I remembered something Laurent said about time passing differently for vampires. I kept my eyes on Victoria while we circled each other. She would dart her eyes, trying to distract me or get me to flinch.

When she tired of this game, she spoke again, "And now I'm going to kill his great-great-grandson. And his pretty mate."

The growl that came out of my throat was so primal, it almost startled me. I leaped, hitting her and slamming her body into the ground with a heavy thud.

Unfortunately, she was ready for me. She pushed me off, sending me sprawling. That's when Seth made his move. He came charging from the trail leading away from the tent, where Edward still stood, watching the showdown with wide eyes. He caught her arm in his powerful jaws and started to pull hard. There was a sickening cracking sound, but she managed to turn away before the arm came all the way off.

There were two of us, but she was prepared to fight. She wasn't at all like one of the newborns. I realized that she had been watching us closely, maybe for decades.

"Aren't the two of you mutts adorable," she said with a smile so falsely sweet, I thought she was going to pat us on the head.

I lunged again. This time she was ready for me. She rushed to meet me midair, slamming into my shoulder, pulling my front leg out of its socket.

I had to bite back a loud cry of pain, all the while bitterly thinking that now we matched. Her arm was still limp from where Seth had ripped it.

While I was scrambling to stand, Seth tried to attack again, but she anticipated this too. With a swift kick, she sent Seth sprawling yards away. His body skidded into a tree. I kept an eye on Seth while just barely dodging out of the way while she came running toward me.

_We need to get to her head, Seth! _I shouted in my head.

_How are we going to do that? She's killing us!_ he yelled back.

I had no clue what we were going to do. I hated to admit it, but she was too good. This time she went for Seth, knowing full well I couldn't move as quickly anymore, but Seth was able to roll away from her, springing to his feet while the force of her momentum brought her skidding into a tree.

She recovered quickly and turned her attention back to me.

_We're going to have to attack her at the same time_. I suggested.

She had such an easy time with one of us, I was pretty sure she could handle us both unless we attacked from exactly the right angles.

_You knock her off balance, I'll go for her neck_. I said.

_On three?_ Seth asked.

_On three_. I repeated

_One_. I said.

That's when I smelled it.

Blood.

Edward's blood.

I looked up sharply. There he was, standing right in front of the tent with with his arm in the air, blood gushing down from a cut in his hand. The leech's head lifted up. She was staring at Edward like he was something to eat.

It was exactly the distraction we needed.

Seth and I both attacked simultaneously. I ignored the pain shooting up my front leg and pushed off with my hind ones. He went for her legs, and I went for her head. As quickly as I could, I put my jaw around her neck and ripped, just as I had done the others.

She let out a strangled cry as I pulled, but it cut off almost immediately. Even though she was smarter and more prepared, she was still our natural enemy and broke like all the others.

I didn't stop tearing until I had ripped her head clean off her body and it was dangling between my teeth. Seth did the same with both of her legs. We each took an arm and tore them off too. We probably looked like crazed animals feasting on a kill, but I wanted to make sure she was completely gone. She had caused enough misery among us, starting with the fire, then causing our people to live in fear, and finally with threatening my mate.

Edward.

I looked up from the body and saw Edward staring at me and Seth. He didn't look completely horrified, but he did look shocked. I phased immediately, ignoring my nudity and running toward him.

There was pain, lots of pain.

I stopped in my tracks and sank to my knees on the ground. It was Edward who closed the distance between us.

"You're hurt," Edward said. "She hurt you."

"It's just my shoulder," I said through a wince. "I think it's dislocated."

"You always seem to get hurt around me," Edward tried to joke.

I smiled up at him weakly. He looked down at me with an odd expression in his face. Through our bond, I felt equal parts love, gratitude, disbelief and something else I didn't quite understand. It felt something like pride, satisfaction or maybe even redemption.

Then it dawned on me.

"You saved my life," I said softly. "You saved both our lives."

I nodded my head back toward Seth, who was back in his human form, clothed, currently building a fire to burn the pieces of the red-head.

"I didn't really do anything," Edward said.

"You figured out how to lure them to a better location. You set yourself up as bait a second time, even after I specifically asked you not to get involved. Edward, your hand."

There was blood still streaming down it from where he cut himself.

"It's superficial. I didn't cut anywhere near a vein. Head injuries usually bleed more, but I figured that would have gotten your attention more than hers."

He was right. It would have freaked me out to see Edward with blood streaming down his face. I grabbed his hand and without even thinking, brought it up to my lips to lap at the blood. As soon as I had done it, I hoped Edward didn't think I was a complete freak.

"Are you sure_ you_ aren't a vampire?" he teased.

I had trouble answering him. His hands were all over my body, like he was inspecting me for any more damage and making sure I was still there, alive, in front of him.

I used my good arm to tug him down so his face was level with mine. Then I pressed my lips against his and I was home.

His lips parted and I let everything I was feeling speak through the kiss. I plundered his mouth with my tongue and he pushed back. His hands came up to weave through my hair. I tried to stand up, having every intention of dragging Edward into the tent to fuck him into the ground, but I couldn't find my balance without pausing the kiss.

It was only a throat clearing followed by a few catcalls that made us break apart. Edward flushed in embarrassment.

"Just coming to help, though you obviously don't need it," Paul said with a sly grin. He had clearly just phased, because he was standing completely naked with his arms crossed.

I could practically feel Edward blush beside me. I was the one who should have been embarrassed, though. I was stark naked and not exactly unaroused.

"What happened down there?" I asked, ignoring the awkward nudity.

"It was just like Garrett said," Paul admitted. "They were really childlike. As soon as their numbers were down, they started turning on each other. We took a couple hits, a few broken bones, some bleeding, but everyone's okay."

We won. I turned it over in my mind for a second. We had won the battle with the newborn army. Seth and I, with Edward's help, had killed the red-head. She would never bother us again.

It was over.

"You, however, look like you could use some help," Paul said, nodding toward my shoulder.

"Put something on first," I said, exasperated. I didn't need Paul's junk in my face when he was looking at my shoulder.

Paul snorted, but took the shorts Edward offered him and put them on.

"It needs to be popped back in before it starts healing," I said with a groan. It was going to hurt like a bitch and I knew it.

"All right. Hold still," Paul warned.

"Wait, wait, do you know what you're doing? Shouldn't we take him to the hospital? Carlisle could do this."

"I heal too fast," I said sadly. "By the time we got off the mountain and into Forks, it would already start healing wrong."

"Don't worry, Eddie," Paul said. "I won't make it worse."

"So reassuring," Edward said sarcastically.

"Now, hold still," Paul demanded as he grabbed my bad arm. "I'm going to count to three. One..."

On two, he shoved my arm back into its socket. I screamed in pain, but as soon as the initial sting went away, it started to feel a little better.

"That sucked," I groaned.

"It'll heal fast!" Paul said cheerfully. "Now, is the witch dead?"

"Yep," Seth said. "As a doornail."

"You should take some of the ashes to Harry," Edward broke in softly.

My heart warmed a little at the sentiment. Edward had been listening closely to the tribal legends.

"That's a good idea," I responded, wrapping my good arm around Edward's shoulders.

The four of us trudged back down the trail toward the meadow.

As soon as we were close, the smell became nauseating. There were bodies and pieces of thirty newborns all lying in piles on the ground. The three vampires were talking to Sam in the middle of the meadow.

I looked for injuries on everyone else. Leah had a huge gash running up her leg that would almost certainly scar. Quil was holding his arm at an awkward angle. Brady was on the ground with Collin while Jared put a splint on his leg to keep it in place. Everyone looked a little worse for the wear.

Sam saw us first and opened his mouth to say something. He was cut off, though. The sound of a woman's voice rang through the meadow with the word, "fascinating."

The old, musty smell I had noticed at the warehouse hit my nose. That's when four figures appeared from the woods. They were vampires, that much was clear. They had glowing red eyes and they were all wearing long cloaks that looked like they belonged in a _Lord of the Rings_ movie.

Geez, were they everywhere?

All of us tensed, but Sam raised a hand, warning us not to phase.

"Jane," James finally called out. "What brings you here?"

"We heard of a newborn army forming and felt it was our duty to investigate."

"Pity you didn't get here sooner. You could have joined in the fight," James replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

I was trying to figure out what was going on. The female bloodsucker speaking looked like she was my age, but the way she smelled made me think she was probably the oldest leech yet. In fact, all four of them smelled the same way.

"You did well, tracker," the little one, Jane or whatever, said.

I wondered why she was addressing James. Laurent was the one who had done the most, and without Garrett's training, we would have been at a distinct disadvantage.

James was about to say something, when she began to speak again. "These lycanthropes are peculiar creatures, aren't they? Aro will be interested in learning of their re-emergence."

"They aren't werewolves, Jane. They are our comrades. It is best we get that straight up front."

"Yes, of course. Very helpful. Allies, it seems."

"Important allies," Laurent broke in. "There is no need to interfere here."

Jane didn't even look at him or acknowledge that he spoke. Instead, she focused on James, "Are you sure you won't entertain Aro's offer?"

"I am needed here. He knows that."

Jane frowned but nodded.

She surveyed the battlefield one more time and then turned and strode away. The other three followed suit wordlessly.

As soon as they were out of sight, a collective sense of relief washed over us. I had no idea what had just happened, but I had a feeling it could have ended a lot worse.

I hadn't let go of Edward the entire time, but the relief I felt then only made me pull him closer.


	8. Phase 8 Epilogue

Phase 8 (Epilogue)

Cleaning up all the vampire remains was probably worst part of all of it.

After the creepy old vampires left, we gathered all the parts into two piles and set them on fire. The smell was worse than anything I could imagine. It stank of death and burning hair and flesh, all mixed in with the sickly-sweet stench of vampire.

James tried to explain to us what had just happened, something about the little vampire being a representative of the Volturi, which were like the ancient vampire police or something. Apparently they wanted James to join them but he refused. Anyway, I didn't really follow it all. I was too busy making sure Edward didn't get freaked out by all the gore. He seemed to be okay though. The noxious odor bothered him the least of anyone, because he had the worst sense of smell.

I thought maybe seeing the field of body parts would gross him out, but he just took in everything with wide eyes. I made him stay near me though. After having been so close to losing him, I was maybe a little clingy. He didn't seem to mind.

"You all right?" I asked him while we waited for the fires to burn down.

"It's still kind of surreal," he said. "I've read a lot of stories with battles in them. You never really think about what happens afterward. Are you okay? How's your shoulder?"

"It's okay. I heal fast, you know. I guess I don't think it has sunk in that this is over."

We stood quietly watching the fire, hand in hand, until Paul came over to check on my shoulder.

"Hey, who won the bet?" I asked him, after assuring him it was healing fine.

"Uh," Paul said.

"Er," Jared added as he wandered over to us.

"Garrett kicked both their asses so much, they decided to call the bet off," Embry called out with a laugh.

"It wasn't like that," Paul started.

"Yeah, it was more like we decided how juvenile it was to put bets on something like this," Jared said, puffing out his chest.

"Plus, Garrett's been doing this for centuries," Paul added.

From across the meadow, I heard Garrett laughing.

We all went back to the Rez, the three vampires included. The elders and Emily, Rachel and Bella, who was officially a "wolf girl" now, were all waiting for us. When we first appeared, a huge cheer rang out, and we were all swarmed with hugs and pats on the back. We were all talking over each other to explain what had happened, until Harry finally stopped all of us with a raise of his hand and asked to be introduced to our guests.

After introductions, Garrett took his leave right away, claiming that he had some business to attend to in Alaska. Apparently that was code for going to see a woman. As soon as Laurent introduced James to the elders, my pack mates took it upon themselves to bombard him with questions they had been holding back in the meadow. Laurent just watched James fondly through the entire thing, holding his hand.

Eventually, weariness hit us, and Laurent and James took off back to Seattle, promising to keep in touch with us.

Edward and I trudged back to my house, where we collapsed on my bed and took a three hour nap. When I woke up, my shoulder was feeling almost completely healed. Edward panicked a little about how late it was and realized he needed to go home. I had a hard time letting him go, but he just kissed me and laughed.

"You know I'm a sure thing," he said.

"I know, but I can't help it if I miss you when you aren't around."

I might have pouted a little.

After Edward left, I had a long conversation with my dad. I asked him about what the red-head had said.

"Am I really the great-great-grandson of Yaha Uta?" I had grown up with the stories of our people. It never really occurred to me that they really happened or that I was so closely related to the people in them.

"Yes, son, he was your grandfather Ephraim's grandfather."

"Why didn't you ever tell me before?"

"Well, you always marched to a different drummer. You didn't seem interested in being a leader or becoming an elder."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, technically, by birthright you are the pack leader, not Sam."

Huh. I wondered if that was why Sam seemed to trust me with information and talked things over with me more than anyone else. I thought about all the responsibility Sam had and how he was able to keep us all in line. Dad was right, it wasn't really something I was interested in.

"Sam's so good at being a leader," I finally said.

"He is that," my dad agreed.

"You aren't disappointed in me, are you? For not stepping up?"

"Jacob, I could never be disappointed in you."

"Thanks, Dad."

It took me awhile to get used to not having the threat of vampires breathing down my neck. It seemed like for the first time in a long time, I was finally just allowed to be a teenager.

It was weird.

The pack kept patrolling on a regular basis, but not nightly. Laurent called on us sometimes when he and James were tracking a particular criminal and needed information about the area. A few times they even asked for backup. Garrett also kept in touch with us. He had mated with the female vampire in Alaska and was now a full-fledged "vegetarian." On occasion he would come down and hunt with us. Of course, this lead to Jared and Paul betting with him that they could pull down more game.

We never signed an official treaty, but after the events with Victoria, the tribe changed its official stance on vampires, allowing for the possibility that they weren't all dangerous to us.

I finally was able to spend some time with Laurent and James on my own. Putting aside the fact that until a few months prior we were sworn enemies, and they were 270 and 210 years old, they were surprisingly easy to talk to. They had both seen how the acceptance of gay relationships had changed over the years and had hope it would only get better. They promised to take Edward and me out once we both were old enough.

They had a good laugh over how young we both were.

Things with Edward and I were great. We stayed in the closet at school until one day Edward marched up to me in the cafeteria and asked me to go to prom with him in front of the whole school.

Of course I said yes, and then we both got detention that afternoon for "showing too much affection." It was just a kiss, along with a chorus of cheers from all the Cullen kids, along with Bella, Quil, Seth and even Leah. Later on there was some name-calling and disgusted looks, everyone was too afraid of me to give me or Edward a hard time, even if they wanted to.

Being a wolf still paid off.

Eventually I would stop phasing, with the lessened presence of vampires in the area there wasn't really a need. At some point, James and Laurent would settle somewhere else, or I would move away from the area.

My life was still strange, but it was starting to even out.

With everything that happened - the responsibility of protecting my people, battling with supernatural creatures - I wouldn't have changed a thing. Because at the end of the day, I had Edward.

And that would never change.

_The End._

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Thank you all for reading my first attempt at Jakeward! And to David Bowie for providing me with a title. :)


End file.
